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Masha'allah Ibn-Atari / Heller, Joachim.
De elementis et orbibus coelestibus, liber antiquus ac eruditus Messahalae laudatissimi inter Arabes Astrologi. Nuremberg, Johann vom Berg & Ulrich Neuber, 1549.
4to. (100) ff. With several woodcut astronomical diagrams in text. Modern marbled boards with morocco label to gilt spine. Marbled endpapers. A collection of astrological writings in Latin translation first published in 1504 as "De scientia motus orbis". The work provides a comprehensive account of the whole cosmos along Aristotelian lines. The 8th-century Persian Jewish astrologer and astronomer Maša'allah ibn Atari "wrote on virtually every aspect of astrology [...] His brief and rather primitive 'De scientia motus orbis' [or 'De elementis et orbibus coelestibus'] combines Peripatetic physics, Ptolemaic planetary theory, and astrology in such a way that, in conjunction with its use of the Syrian names of the months, one strongly suspects that it is based on the peculiar doctrines of Harran, to which al-Kindi and Abu Masar were also attracted [...] This important Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona of the lost Arabic original of this exposition was published by J. Stabius (Nuremberg, 1504) and by J. Heller (Nuremberg, 1549)" (DSB). - Bookplate of the Marques de Viana, Conde de Urbasa on front pastedown. In excellent condition. VD 16, ZV 10470. DSB IX, 160 & 162. Zinner p. 211, 1962. Lalande, Bibliographie Astronomique, p. 68. Sarton I, 531. Graesse IV, 503.
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Mareschal, Marien de.
Mémoire sur l'éducation des chevaux. (Moulins, L. Desrosiers, 1820).
Small 4to. 8 pp. Study on the training of horses, submitted and presented to the Agricultural Society of Allier, by Marien de Mareschal, Mayor of Deux-Chaises (France). The author tries to demonstrate the benefits of horse breeding. - Small defects to edges; slight dust-soiling.
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Mayer, Luigi.
A Selection of the Most Interesting of Sir Robert Ainslie's Celebrated Collection of Views in Turkey in Europe, and in Asia. London, T. Bensley f. R. Bowyer, 1811.
Folio (340 x 490 mm). 2 ff, 24 coloured aquatints (1 folding). Contemp. half calf with giltstamped red morocco label to marbled front cover, spine rebacked and gilt. "The plates in this selection are not re-engraved, but plates available from the stock originally printed for Bowyer, with new title page" (Atabey). Includes views of Constantinople, the Voivode palace of Bucharest, Tripoli and Tortosa, a mosque in Laodicea, as well as antiquities from the Eolian Islands and Ephesus. - The German-Italian artist Luigi Mayer (1755-1803) was one of the foremost late 18th-century European painters of the Ottoman Empire. He was a close friend of Sir Robert Ainslie, British ambassador to Turkey between 1776 and 1792, and the bulk of his paintings and drawings during this period were commissioned by him. Mayer travelled extensively throughout the Ottoman Empire and became well known for his sketches and paintings of panoramic landscapes of ancient sites from the Balkans to Turkey and Egypt, particularly ancient monuments and the Nile. Many of the works were amassed in Ainslie's collection, which was later presented to the British Museum, providing a valuable insight into the Middle East of that period. - Occasional insignificant brownstaining. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Atabey 790. Chatzipanagioti-S. 631. Hage Chahine 56. Cf. Blackmer 1100. Abbey 369.
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[Moseman & Brother].
Mosemans' Illustrated Guide for Purchasers of Horse Furnishing Goods. Novelties and Stable Appointments. Imported and Domestic. New York, E. D. Slaiter, [ca. 1893].
Folio (286 x 390 mm). Colour lithogr. title, 303 [i.e., 305], (1) p. With 7 leaves of plates, illustrated throughout (some in colour). Colour advertisement bound after p. 70. Modern red cloth with giltstamped spine title and original giltstamped cover title inset on upper board. Original edition of the Moseman Brothers' sumptuously produced sales catalogue of luxury horse tack and equipment. Dated from a printed letter (March 6, 1893), appearing on p. 67. Contains more than 1000 detailed illustrations of all items relating to the horse including halters, muzzles, halter ties, hitching weights, oils, dressings, stallion shields, boots, toe weights, bitting harness, hopples, spreaders, cart saddles, collars, riding & driving bits, whip sockets, whips, hunting crops, ornaments, chains, snaps, clothing, saddles, veterinary preparations, stable requisites such as brushes, curry cards, brooms, forks, and much more. One of the finest equestrian trade catalogues of the 19th century produced by a leading New York City concern, C. M. Moseman and Brother, offering a vast range of high-quality equestrian goods. Rare, most libraries hold copies of the late 20th century reprints only. OCLC 24193302.
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Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss).
Arabische Reise. No place, 1927-1928.
Large 8vo (172 x 240 mm). Scrapbook containing clippings of the newspaper series "Arabische Reise" and other articles on Arabia, along with various illustrations and music. 80 pp., each sheet covered on one side with coloured paper or cloth. Contemporary green library cloth with cover label. Original clippings of Muhammad Asad's "Arabian Journey", serialized in the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" in 1927, and including other early newspaper articles by Asad (as well as an essay by Hermann Hesse). The handsome album, apparently assembled by a German or Swiss traveller, Georg Hartmann (whose ownership is inscribed on the pastedown and initialled to the upper cover), is decorated with numerous illustrations cut from contemporary magazines, including several showing camel-mounted bedouins in the desert, a view of Mecca, portraits of Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, the muezzin's call to prayer (arranged in musical notes), and the original business wrapping paper of the Istanbul confectioner Hajji Bekir, whom Hartmann seems to have visited during a 1928 visit to Turkey. On the pastedown, Hartmann has entered a table of contents (with a - possibly slightly later - portrait of Ibn Saud as King). - Muhammad Asad (previously, Leopold Weiss) was a leading traveller and journalist of the 20th century who, in 1926, converted to Islam from Judaism, eventually becoming a diplomat for Pakistan and a best-selling author. His enthusiasm for Wahhabism is evident from these early travel reports from the Arabian Peninsula, where Ibn Saud had just captured Mecca and proclaimed independence in the Hejaz and Nejd, but had not yet united his dominions into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Indeed, Asad's feature on Ibn Saud (also included here) constitutes nothing less than a hagiographic portrait of the ideal ruler, and his incisive writings on Islam aim to familiarize western audiences with what he perceived as the purest and truest form of the religion he had come to embrace, criticizing occidental images of the Muslim faith gleaned from the Ottoman or Persian tradition, which he viewed as corruptions.
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Munnings, A. J., one of England's finest painters of horses (1878-1959).
Autograph letter signed. Dedham, Essex, 22. X. 1937.
8vo. 1 p. To the council of the Omar Khayyam Club: "Please forgive my delay but the [...] paper was mislaid & I had forgotten the date of dinner. I shall be happy to attend alone, no guest [...]". - On headed paper.
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Muybridge, Eadward.
Animal Locomotion. An Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements. 1872-1885. Author's Edition. Philadelphia, published under the Auspices of the University of Pennsylvania, plates printed by the Photo-Gravure Company, 1887.
Large folio. Half morocco, retaining the original cloth covers and gilt cover label. 11 (instead of 21) plates. Author's Edition. Landmark collection of Muybridge's revolutionary "instantaneous photography", a self-developed technique that allowed for high-precision series of high shutter speed stop-motion photographs. He began his work with photographing horses, but in time it would also include athletes, birds, lions, and even camels. Muybridge first photographed a horse with all 4 hooves off the ground in 1872, after Leland Stanford (later the Governor of California) hired Muybridge to determine whether a horse leaves the ground completely when running, a hotly debated issue at the time. (Stanford believed they did, and Muybridge won Stanford a $25,000 bet.) By 1885, Muybridge had accumulated over 20,000 photographic negatives, or 781 sequential series of photo-plates, shot from multiple cameras at carefully planned locations and angles, each of which showed a human and/or animal engaged in a continuous motion. This required Muybridge to develop cameras for faster shutter closure. In cases where a human or animal moved any great distance, photographing the movement required a team of photographers, rather than a single photographer. Muybridge and H. Allen, a physiology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, published 37 eleven-volume sets which contained a collotype of every one of the 781 photographic series. This "Author's Edition" consists of a selection of the most important collotypes contained in the full work; the present set includes all the plates to show animals: No. 565. Horse trotting. - 616. Horse and rider, trotting more rapidly. - 626. A third horse and rider, running, including several frames with all 4 hooves off the ground. - 647. A horse jumping a hurdle at high speed, with a bareback jockey. - 659. Mule jumping and kicking with his hind limbs. - 710. Race hound at high speed, including frames with all 4 feet off the ground. - 721. Lion circling along the wall of a small enclosure. - 739. Camel walking. - 755. Bird flying, including swoops down. - 3. Runner. - 152. Runner jumping a hurdle. - The combined illustrated area of any given plate varies, but is typically about 21 x 30 cms. Muybridge had focused his early photographic work on San Francisco and Yosemite, but had later been sent by the Federal Government to photograph Alaska for the High Sierra Survey. (The latter project was in 1868, shortly after the territory was purchased. He was later sent on a second trip to Alaska to photograph the Tlingit tribe and the Modoc War.) During his time as a photographer, Muybridge owned a racetrack. Late in life, he invented the zoopraxiscope, a primitive forerunner of the motion picture camera. Analyses made possible by the technique later had a wide range of implications for sports, podiatry, physical therapy, vertebrate paleontology, and other fields. - Pastedowns and spine renewed, otherwise an excellent, clean copy in the original boards. Grolier, Truthful Lens, 123. Parr/Badger, The Photobook I, 52.
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Nagel, Ludwig von.
Skizzen für Reiterei. Landshut, J. B. Zabuesnig, 1862/1863.
Oblong folio (430 x 280 mm). Illustrated t. p. and 32 plates, lithographed throughout. With a supersized letterpress table of contents. Stored loosely in original printed half cloth portfolio. First edition, dedicated to Baron Ludwig von der Tann. The fine outline lithographs show the Bavarian military's riding exercises and were probably intended for the instruction of the Bavarian cavalry's recruits. Ludwig von Nagel (1836-99) served as a lieutenant in the second Royal Bavarian Cuirassier Regiment. - Slight browning; occasional duststaining to edges. A fine set. Anderhub collection 211. OCLC 907714135. Not in Huth.
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[Nicolay d'Arfeuille, Nicolas / Artus, Thomas].
Plusieurs descriptions des accoustremens, tant des magistrats et officiers de la porte de l'Empereur des Turcs, que des peuples assujectis à son Empire. [Paris, Guillemot, 1632].
Folio (240 x 376 mm). 65 ff., 66-114, (4) pp. With 79 (incl. 1 repeat) engravings in the text. Contemporary leather binding over wooden boards (restored) with 8 brass bosses to corners. Remains of clasps. These explanations of the Ottoman and Arabian costume engravings based on the account of Nicolas Nicolay d'Arfeuille and on the Byzantine prophecies of Thomas Artus, Sieur d’Embry (c. 1550-after 1614), who is known for his satirical take on the French court, "Les Hermaphrodites", were variously published throughout the 17th century as an appendix to the history of the Ottoman Empire of Chalkokondyles, but were also issued separately, as is the case with the present copy. The repeated plate 60/61 and the duplicated plate number 64 identify this as Guillemot's 1632 Paris edition. Among the plates are an "Arabic merchant", an "Emir, descended from Muhammad", "Pilgrims returning from Makkah", a "Persian gentleman", a "Turkish lady dressed for going to town" etc.; at the end: prophecies foretelling the downfall of the Ottoman Empire. - Occasional insignificant brownstaining; some slight worming (also touching text and images); some repaired edge defects. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Colas 2207 (note). OCLC 83490314. Cf. Hage Chahine 860. This edition not in Hiler or Lipperheide.
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Obicini, Tommaso.
Thesaurus Arabico-Syro-Latinus. Rome, Sac. Congreg. de Propaganda Fide, 1636.
8vo. (6), 447, (22) pp. Woodcut printer's device to title page. Contemp. vellum. First edition of this Syriac glossary (rather than a thesaurus proper), arranged by subject rather than by alphabet: "Neque vero thesaurus est, sed verius nomenclator, non quidem ordine alphabetico, sed per materias dispositus. Verus auctor est Elias Barsinaeus, Metropolita Sobae seu Nisibis, undecimo saeculo clarus" (Schnurrer). - Edited by Tommaso Obicini da Novara (1585-1632), "one of the figures at the background of the Propaganda Press, abbot of the Franciscan convent at Aleppo from 1613-16 and 1619-20, and in 1620 elected Custode di Terra Santa e Commissario Apostolico per tutto l’Oriente. In 1621 he returned to Rome, and became the first lector of Arabic in the St. Peter Convent at Rome" (Smitskamp 222). - Evenly browned throughout due to paper. Title page shows stamp of the Franciscan Convent of St. Anthony in Breslau-Karlowitz. BM-STC 624. Smitskamp 223. Schnurrer 63. Fück 77. Zaunmüller 372. Vater/Jülg 24. Graesse V, 1. Ebert 14920.
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Odescalchi, Victor, Prince (1833-1880).
Mein Marsch von Kloster Ostrog nach Zdrebanik. Montenegro 8. August 1858. Montenegro, 1858.
Pen-and-ink drawing on wove paper, monogrammed "VO". 142 x 182 mm. Matted. Depicting the artist's "March from Ostrog Monastery to Zdrebanik, Montenegro, 8 August 1858". Prince Odescalchi, member of a Vienna-based family of the Roman high nobility, painted genre as well as military scenes. Himself a military officer, he captured many events of his active years in drawings and paintings. He remains a conspicuous figure in art history especially by virtue of the portrait Friedrich von Amerling painted of the orientally garbed five-year-old prince. - From the Ottoman collection of Herry W. Schaefer.
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Odescalchi, Prince Victor.
Kunststücke Abdi Pascha's, Gouverneur von Albanien bei unserer Audienz. - Scutari August 1858. Probably Vienna, between 1847 and 1874.
Pen-and-ink drawing on wove paper, monogrammed "VO". 142 x 182 mm. Matted. "A demonstration given by Abdi Pasha, governor of Albania, during our audience (Scutari, August 1858)". Prince Odescalchi, member of a Vienna-based family of the Roman high nobility, painted genre as well as military scenes. Himself a military officer, he captured many events of his active years in drawings and paintings. He remains a conspicuous figure in art history especially by virtue of the portrait Friedrich von Amerling painted of the orientally garbed five-year-old prince. - With Odescalchi's autogr. note on the reverse: "begun on the 12th at 8 p.m., finished on the 13th, 11 a.m., 5 hrs". From the Ottoman collection of Herry W. Schaefer.
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[Oriental metal crafts]. - K. K. Österreichisches Handels-Museum.
Sammlung von Abbildungen türkischer, arabischer, persischer, centralasiatischer und indischer Metallobjecte. Vienna, Verlag des k. k. österreichischen Handels-Museums, 1895.
50 plates with 5 ff. of letterpress text. In original half cloth portfolio. Folio (340 x 465 mm). A fine collection of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman as well as Indian and Asian decorated metal objects, including bowls, basins, water pitchers, and tea pots. Several separate plates show details of the elaborate ornamentation. - Some foxing; slight defects to portfolio flaps. Removed from the Vienna University of International Trade with their cancelled stamps on the portfolio. OCLC 3124615.
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[Oriental Porcelain and Ceramics].
Sammlung von Abbildungen aus dem Nahen und Fernen Oriente. Vienna, Orientalisches Museum, 1885.
Large folio (approx. 33 x 49 cm). (4), 41, (3) pp. With 58 plates (all with tissue guards; all edges gilt). Contemporary cloth portfolio. A fine set of plates, with extensive scholarly commentaries by three specialists, showing not only a wealth of Chinese and and Japanese, but also Arabic ceramics from Austrian princely and noble collection. The Middle-Eastern works are mainly in the Hispano-Mauric tradition of mediaeval Spain. Includes an illustrated essay by Josef Karabacek on Muslim ceramics. - Occasional slight foxing to wide margins of plates, otherwise well-preserved.
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[Palestine].
Collection of 27 cardboard-backed photographs by Félix Bonfils (24), Jakob August Lorent (1), the brothers Zangaki (1) and an unknown artist (1). Palestine, c. 1875.
C. 258 x 325 mm (cardboard); image dimensions c. 222 x 284 mm. Albumen prints (vintage) on cardboard. By Bonfils, from Bethlehem: "Tombeau de Rachel" (no. 336); "Puits des Mages" (889); "Entrée des pèlerins à Bethléem, le jour de Noël" (892, illustrated in Wieczorek/Sui, "Ins Heilige Land", p. 106); "Vue générale de Bethléem, du puits de David" (1225) and interior of the Church of the Nativity (uncaptioned); from Jaffa: "Place du marché vue générale" (238, ill. with alternative caption in W./S., p. 67); from Jerusalem: "Porte de Jaffa" (244, ill. with alternative caption in W./S., p. 73); "Mur des Juifs en vendredi" (245); "Façade du St-Sépulcre" (246); "Prison de St. Pierre" (250); "Arc de l'Ecce Homo" (252); "Ruelle allant au palais d'Hérode" (259); "Coupoles du St.-Sépulcre" (274); "Vue générale de la mosquée d'Omar" (278); interior of the Dome of the Rock ([279], illustrated with caption but trimmed in W./S., p. 85); "Porte donnant accès au-dessous du rocher" (280); "Vue générale de l'emplacement du temple de Salomon" (285); "Porte de Damas" (287); "Jardin de Gethsemané, vue générale" (303, ill. trimmed in W./S., p. 76); "Vallée de Josaphat" (310); "Intérieur du St-Sépulcre avec ornements" (850); "Grotte de Sainte-Hélène, intérieur" (855 bis); "Entrée de Jérusalem près de la porte de Jaffa" (1037) and "Rue de la Porte de Jaffa" (1038). - By Lorent: "Tombeau de David sur le Mont Sion" (288). This is apparently a print of the 1864 image illustrated in Wieczorek/Sui (p. 88), made by Bonfils and supplied with a caption. Curiously, that image is trimmed by several centimeters on the left, as compared to our print. - By the Zangakis: "Jerusalem", "Eglise du Pater couloir" (1018). - Anonymous: "Juive, costume riche" (1). - 4 photographs show slight edge defects. Occasional staining to cardboard edges, but mainly clean and well-preserved, with German ms. pencil captions.
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[Pedigree].
3 documents on the pedigree of a foal born to the royal stallion stud Pompadour (Corrèze). Limoges, 1848.
Small 4to. Altogether 3 pp. 1. Birth certificate of the foal Tulip, born of a thoroughbred mare "d'espèce de Selle" and a royal stud of the same stud farm, Pompadour (document partly printed, signed by the domain administrator de Pompadour). 2. Certificate of Affiliation. 3. Document concerning the mare's sale.
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[Persian grammar - Dieu, Lodewijk de].
Rudimenta grammaticae persicae ad usum seminarii Patavini. [Padua, 1789].
4to. 70 pp. Contemporary Italian boards with papered spine. Only issue of this Persian grammar for the use of the Padua seminary, ascribed to Lodewijk de Dieu (1590-1642) by the State and University Library of Göttingen. Without a title page as issued. - Old monastic library stamp at bottom of final page; 19th c. note of donation (a gift of Cardinal Barberini) on front flyleaf. OCLC 461040960.
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Peters, J. G.
A treatise on equitation or the art of horsemanship, simplified progressively for amateurs. London, Whittaker and Co., 1835.
4to. (4), LV, (3), 1-312, 10, 312-316 pp. With lithogr. frontispiece and 27 plates. Marbled half calf with 5 raised bands and gilt label to giltstamped spine. First edition; very rare. Peters' work was published on the same day in English in London, in French in Paris, and in German in Frankfurt (cf. Mennessier de la Lance II, p. 306). In addition to treating the principles of riding, the work discusses horse grooming and the use of weapons on horseback. - Untrimmed copy, slightly browned, otherwise in excellent condition. Huth 127. OCLC 18787323. Cf. Mennessier de la Lance II, 305 (22 plates only, French ed.).
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[Horse racing].
Two albums with black-and-white photographs. Berlin, 1939-1972.
2 albums containing a total of 49 large-format black-and-white prints (measuring up to 18 x 24 cm), some signed "Freund". Contemporary percaline (245 x 350 mm). High-quality photographs, mainly showing the winners of harness races driven by Harry Myrcik, including the horses Editor, Poldi, Aeolus, Burgschwester, Ester Cane, Norina, Cila, Fulklapp, Herbstwind, Cape Horn, Cedar, Ambrina, Akkord, Quarminus, Miami II, Sonnenmeister, Quintaner, Marie, and Oheim. Also, several offical finishing line photos and a few portraits. The collection is arranged chronologically; the 30 images in the first volume are tipped in, while the 19 in volume 2 are loose. Often, the image is captioned in calligraphy, citing the name of the winning horse and its owner, the measured time, the place and date of the race, etc., some signed by photographer (and stamped: "Foto - Freund, Berlin / Charlottenburg"). Most photos were taken at the Berlin's Mariendorf trotting course, founded in 1913 and revived in the 1960s after war damage was repaired. - Three smaller photos have been removed; otherwise perfect.
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Pons-d'Hostun, L[ouis] H[enri].
L'écuyer des dames, ou lettres sur l'équitation. Paris, Huzard, 1806.
8vo. (4), II, 140 pp. With 3 engr. plates by Horace Vernet. Contemporary straight-grained red morocco, elaborately gilt on covers and spine; leading edges and inner dentelle gilt. Blue endpapers. All edges gilt. First edition of this manual of riding instruction for ladies. The fine engravings by the young Horace Vernet (1789-1863), later the 19th century's foremost master of equestrian illustration, include the earliest depiction of a lady sitting astride the horse. A second edition was published in 1817. The author, Louis Henri II, marquis de Pons d'Hostun (1750-1820?), was inspired by the works of Newcastle and La Guérinière. Exceedingly rare; a sumptuously bound copy. Schrader 1452. Mennessier de la Lance 336. Huth 75.
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[Prayer book].
Manuscript Arabic prayer book. No place, [1830/31 CE] = 1246 H.
8vo (135 x 90 mm). 11 pp. Ink on paper, written space 110 x 65 text area approx. Text in black with "points" in gold within the framework of various colours. Pages mounted within coloured rules. Title page in red, purple and gold (worn with some losses). Contemporary leporello binding. Devotional manuscript, bound as a leporello. Begins with "bi-hawli llah wa-quwwatihi" ("with God's power and strength"); text has been separated and continues on a previous page. Elaborately decorated title and chapter heading within ornamental borders, gilt and coloured. The name of the scribe, Muhammad Ja'far al-Lahijani (from Lâhîjân in northern Iran on the Caspian Sea), as well as the date 1246, are stated on the final page. - Partially worn and damaged; front cover shows a floral design on cloth (rubbed and chafed); the back cover is missing. Some brownstaining and chipping; a few leaves show old repairs and marginal defects.
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[Quadrant].
Paper-covered wood showing coloured scales. Ottoman Empire, 19th century.
18.9 x 19.8 cm. Gouache with some gilt dots and ink on paper. Quadrants were simple measuring devices used in astronomy, field measurements, and navigation. Based on the position of the sun or the polar star, the user is able to determine his position without difficulty. - The papered covers show occasional defects and slight waviness in places. While functional, the present instrument is probably a simpler copy of an older model, not actually intended for use but rather for representational purposes. Some of the Arabic lettering is missing or illegible, and the highlights are not executed with genuine gilding but in gold paint. Cf. Heritage Library, Islamic Treasures, s. v. "Instruments" (illustration).
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Raswan, Carl.
The Arab and his Horse. Oakland, the author, 1955.
XII, (2), 148 pp. With hand mounted coloured frontispiece of Fa Serr and a folding map. Profusely illustrated throughout. Original cloth with dust jacket. 8vo. Limited second edition. Number 204 of 1000 copies. Signed by Carl Raswan in Arabic and English on front flyleaf. The sum of Raswan's research into and knowledge about Arabian horses among the Bedouin and of his visits to Arabian Studs in Egypt and other parts of the Near East. - Very rare as all of Raswan's works, an excellent copy. Boyd/P. 99. OCLC 401346888.
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Raynal, Guillaume Thomas / [Bonne, Rigobert].
Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes. Geneva, Pellet, 1780.
10 vols (8vo) and atlas (4to) in 11 vols. With engr. portrait, 9 frontispieces, 50 engr. maps, and 23 folding tables. Contemp. half calf with spine label; atlas bound in contemp. full calf. First ten-volume edition of this famous work on the European trade with the East and America. The atlas includes the well-known map of the Arabian Peninsula by Rigobert Bonne (1725-95). "This map covers from 25'-60' E and 10'-50' N. It shows the north east of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula with its three classic divisions, Arabia Deserta, Arabia Petraea and Arabia Felix. On the part showing the Arabian Peninsula, [... the data] is concentrated in the west" (Al Ankary coll.). - Primarily written by Diderot and the encyclopédists, this the work saw no less than 12 editions until 1821. The text deals with the commercial relations between Europe and their colonies. Raynal’s treatises on the evils of slavery and the moral obligation to aid the underprivileged were ahead of their time, and Raynal was harshly criticised and forced into exile. - Contemporary ownership "Hippolyte Cazenove" to endpapers; atlas volume slightly browned. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, The Gulf in Historic Maps, p. 198. Khaled Al Ankary Collection p. 388. McMinn 56. Sabin 68081. Feugère 51. Phillips 652. Brunet IV, 1126. Graesse VI, 40. Cf. Kress B 314 & 315.
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Reinhard, Max (ed.).
Das Pferd in der Kunst. Erinnerungsband der Ausstellung "Das Pferd in der Kunst". Hrsg. vom Kulturamt der Hauptstadt der Bewegung, München, Direktor Max Reinhard. Munich, Schmidt, 1936.
Large folio (450 x 330 mm). 114 ff., illustrated throughout with original photographs, with tissue guards. Original padded cloth with inlaid cast metal coverpiece. Stunning album commemorating the National Socialist exhibition on the history of the horse as represented in art from the stone age to the 20th century, held in Munich's Residenz from July 22 until November 15, 1936. Only 300 copies were produced (this copy is numbered 220). Perfectly preserved. Cf. OCLC 162880518 (4to).
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[Request for horses].
Letter signed by the Government commissioner of Clichy (France). Clichy, "25 pluviose", c. 1795 (thus, 13 or 14 February).
Folio. 2 pp. Clichy provides 25 horses in fulfilment of a mandate issued on September 4, concerning the requisition of 40,000 horses. - Somewhat spotty and browned.
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Richardson, John.
A dictionary, Persian, Arabic, and English. To which is prefixed a dissertation on the languages, literature, and manners of Eastern nations. Oxford, printed at the Clarendon Press, sold by J. Murray and D. Price, 1777-1780.
Folio (275 x 407 mm). 2 vols. (4), XLVIII, (16) pp. 2144 (but: 2136: skipping 441-448) cols. (4) pp., XX cols., (6) pp., 2286 cols. 19th century English calf. First edition of the first Persian-Arabic-English dictionary, edited by the orientalist Sir John Richardson (1740/41-1795). The first volume includes a dissertation on the languages, literature and manners of Eastern nations. ''An excellent work. As the first vol. or Persian, Arabic and English part was published separately, many more copies were sold than of the second or English, Persian, and Arabic. A few broken sets of the first volume being left, the booksellers were led to reprint several deficient sheets, and so with the copies left on hand of the second vol. they made up some perfect sets. But these are easily known from the original'' (Clarke), as they are printed in London in 1800. - "On 12 November 1767 [Richardson] was proposed for the Society of Antiquaries of London as of Furnival's Inn. In London he pursued both the law and the study of Arabic and Persian. In his oriental interests Richardson was much influenced by another young man, William Jones, who was already coming to be regarded as a prodigy of learning in Asian languages. With the growth of British territorial power in India the potential market for a Persian dictionary had aroused the interest of London publishers and by 1770 Jones and Richardson were working on a new version of Franciscus Meninski's 'Thesaurus linguarum orientalium', first published in 1680-87. Progress was very slow, and Jones withdrew to concentrate on his legal career, leaving the field to Richardson. Thanks to his 'ingenuity and perseverance' (memorial of A. Hamilton and G. Nicol to East India Company, 6 Feb 1776, BL OIOC, E/1/60, no. 26), an abridged version of the original project eventually appeared in two volumes in 1777 and 1780 as A Dictionary, Persian, Arabic and English. Fundamentally revised by others, notably by Charles Wilkins in 1806 and 1810, the dictionary was to have a long life, but although the company took 150 sets, there were few other subscribers and Richardson got little reward for the huge effort he had expended on it" (Marshall). - Bindings rubbed and worn, inner hinges partly split, endpapers renewed. Some staining and marginal repairs to interior; larger tears to 5 leaves, staining to both titles, ownership inscriptions partly inked out; both titles showing central repaired clipping as well as marginal strenghtening and collector's stamp. A large part of both volumes shows worming to gutter; a few leaves with repairs. Zaunmüller 189. Vater/Jülg 25. Graesse VI, 113. Cf. Brunet IV, 1285 (later ed. only, 1806-1810). Clarke, John. (1806). The Bibliographical Miscellany - Supplement, vol. 1 (London, 1806) pp. 273-274; for Richardson: Marshall, "Richardson, John [styled Sir John Richardson, ninth baronet] (1740/41-1795), orientalist", in: ODNB (online ed.).
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Roberts, David, Scottish painter (1796-1864).
Autograph letter signed. Fitzroy Street, [15 March 1849].
8vo. 1 p. on bifolium. To his son-in-law Henry Bicknell, making arrangements to meet: "I have unfortunately accepted an invitation to dine with Lord Tenterden on Wednesday, had it been an other I would have endeavoured to get off - as it is I have done as you desired an pop'd Marochetti into the fire. With the exception of that and Saturday I am disengaged the rest of the week [...]". - In a postscript, he adds that "Turner called on Monday to say he would dine with you tomorrow having mistaken the day - he is to dine with your Governor [Henry Bicknell's father, the art collector Elhanan Bicknell] on Saturday". - Roberts enjoyed a close and warm relationship with his daughter and her husband, no doubt a compensation for his own unhappy marriage.
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Röhm, Hans, painter (1877-1956).
Sketchbook. Munich, September 1925-June 1926.
Small 8vo (143 x 110 mm). 32 ff. of sketches in coloured chalk pastels and charcoal on bluish-grey laid paper. Contemp. half cloth. Contains 19 pp. of sketches showing the Keferloh horse market (some dated September 14), the others mostly showing landscape views from the environs of Munich (captioned Herrsching, Großhesselohe, Grünwald, Solln, Karlsfeld, Allach etc.). Inside front cover has Röhm's autograph name and address in pencil. - The painter, etcher, and lithographer Röhm studied at Nuremberg and the Munich Academy (1898-1902) with Wilhelm von Diez war. In 1927 he became professor in Munich (cf. Thieme/Becker and Nürnberger Künstlerlexikon). - The Keferloh horse market (known as "Keferloher Montag") was the largest of its kind in the German Reich until the Second World War. - Binding somewhat stained and rubbed; interior very well preserved.
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[Roux, Joseph] / Allezard, Jean Joseph.
Recueil de 163 principaux plans des ports et rades de la Mediterranée. Leghorn, Giacopo Aliprandi, 1817.
Oblong 4to. Coloured engraving of flags (civil and war ensigns) as frontispiece, engraved title page and 163 engaved maps (some lightly coloured). With 2 letterpress pp. of index at the end and a folding engr. plan of the harbor of Odessa (not belonging to this work). Contemprary half calf. Pocket-size atlas of the principal harbour installations and bays of the Mediterranean, many of which at the time were still in Ottoman possession. They include numerous ports on the Barbary Coast (Tanger, Oran, Algiers, Tunis, Monastir, Sfax, Tripoli, Bengasi, Essaouira), the Greek islands, and the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean (Beirut, Tyre). - Long the principal route for merchants and travellers between Europe and the East, allowing for trade and cultural exchange between the many peoples of the region, the development of a sea route to the Indian Ocean from the late 15th century onwards made possible the importation of Asian spices and other goods through the Atlantic ports of western Europe and diminished the importance of the Mediterranean route. Only in the second half of the 19th century would it once more become an important passageway for goods and travellers: after the opening of the Suez Canal half a century after the present publication, it enabled ships to reach the Eastern world in record time, with dramatic effects on world trade. - Binding slightly rubbed; handwritten ownership "L. Falciola" on flyleaf. A good, clean copy, formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Scheepvaart Mus. 62. OCLC 560616922. Cf. Phillips 196, 3974 & 5172; Zacharakis 1967-2040 (other eds.).
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(Saintine, X[avier] B[oniface] [i. e. Joseph Xavier Boniface], ed.).
Histoire scientifique et militaire de l'éxpedition française en Égypte. Paris, Dénain, 1830-1836.
10 text volumes bound in 11 (8vo) and 2 atlas vols. (oblong folio), altogether 13 vols. With a total of 300 engr. plates (13 folding, 2 in original hand colour, some with touches of colour) and 160 engr. portraits as well as 6 (1 folding) facsimiles, almost all on China paper. Green grained half morocco, spines gilt. First edition, almost never encountered complete as thus. Important source for the history and activities of the 1798 French expedition to Egypt, published in ten text volumes by Louis Reybaud and two atlas volumes. The portraits of the members of the expedition (usually forming part of the text volumes) have here been bound separately; also contains two additional portraits (not counted). "The 160 profile portraits by Dutertre [...] are of particular interest" (Blackmer). Many of the plates showing views, antiquities, maps etc. were engraved after drawings by Vivant Denon, whose work opened up the Middle East for western eyes as no other had done before (cf. Henze II, 50). - Plates numbered 1-309 (each of the 13 folding plates counting as a double), followed by "dernière planche" and 3 maps. Five of the facsimiles have been bound at the end of the second atlas volume, another in vol. 3. The text volumes contain the "Histoire ancienne" (vols. 1-2) and the "Histoire moderne de l'Égypte" (vols. 9-10) as well as the expedition report proper (vols. 3-8). All text volumes have four title pages (slightly departing from those in Blackmer's copy). Vol. 1 also contains a "Rapport" of the work for the Académie by G. Saint-Hilaire, dated Nov. 1836, which names Louis Reybaud as "principal rédacteur". - A magnificent set in period bindings, interior clean and spotless throughout. No complete copy recorded at auction within the last decades. Blackmer 1476. Gay 2209. Cf. Hage Chahine 4277 and Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 80 (both citing individual text volumes only).
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Schenk, Pieter.
Gamron, een groot vlek in het Lantschap Kirman, niet verre van Ormus, gelegen aen den Perziaenschen zeeboezem. Gamron, sinus Persici vicus olim exiguus nunc vero maxime opulentus. Amsterdam, [1702].
Engraved view (265 x 215 mm) in contemporary hand-colour. Beautifully hand-coloured decorative view of Bandar Abbas (Gamrun) in the Arabian Gulf. Slightly age-toned and stained; repaired tears in the lower blank margin and in the text, otherwise in good condition. Alai, Special maps E.538. Not in Al Ankary. Al-Qasimi.
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Selden, John.
De di[i]s Syris snytagmata II. Editio omnium novissima, opera Andreae Beyeri. Leipzig, Sigismund Cörner , 1668.
8vo. 2 vols. in one. (38), 373, (51) pp. (6), 338, (36) pp. With engr. t. p. (wants the table). Contemp. auburn morocco, richly gilt. All edges gilt. Third edition, the second edited by Andreas Beyer (first published in London in 1617). Selden (1584-1654) "first won fame in Europe as an orientalist by his treatise 'De Diis Syris', the first of his oriental studies [...] use was also made of it by Vossius in his great treatise on idiolatry" (DNB). - Elaborately bound gilt binding; insignificantly rubbed with minute restoration to upper spine-end. VD 17, 23:320175K. DNB 1161. Graesse VI/1, 343. Cf. STC S 1861.
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Seydlitz, Melchior von.
Gründtliche Beschreibung der Wallfart nach dem heiligen Lande, neben Vermeldung der jemmerlichen und langwirigen Gefengnuß derselben Gesellschafft [...]. Auffs newe vom Authore ubersehen und corrigirt [...]. Allen Christen, und insonderheit denen vom Adel zu guter Nachrichtung in Druck gefertiget. (Görlitz, Ambrosius Fritsch, 1584).
4to. 160 unnumbered pp. Title page printed in red and black. With a large title woodcut in red and black and 3 woodcuts in the text (1 page-sized cut, 2 repeats). Modern vellum bound to style, stored in custom cloth-lined slipcase. Scarce account of a 1556/59 journey to the Holy Land by the Silesian nobleman Melchior von Seydlitz. First published in 1580, the work begins with the events of the trip from Venice via the Greek islands to Cyprus, where the pilgrims stayed from July 4 through 14, 1556. An entire chapter is devoted to the description of the island, its geography, agriculture, salt works, etc. Substantive chapters are dedicated to Jerusalem, Damascus, and Constantinople. Also mentions Mecca, "16 days from Jerusalem". "Seylitz's party was taken captive in Palestine; the 'honourable warrior' Hand von Ehrenberg visited them in Ramleh" (cf. Tobler). The fine title woodcut shows the travellers' capture; the full-page illustrations depicts te Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. - Several contemporary underlinings and marginalia in red ink. Small, faint erased stamp to reverse of title. A fine copy. VD 16, ZV 14388. Röhricht 710. Yerasimos p. 245. Cf. Tobler 76.
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[Seymour, James, and Thomas Spencer (artists).
Portraits and Pedigrees of the Most Celebrated Racers from Paintings by Eminent Artists, with portraits of the Jockeys. Arundel and London, Thomas Butler, 1751-1753].
Oblong folio (310 x 370 mm). 30 engraved sheets, with 30 (of 34) portraits of thoroughbred race-horses (lacking nos. 10, 15, 31 and 34). Old half calf with marbled covers. A spectacular, exceedingly rare album illustrating the starting point of horse racing in England, when native mares were crossbred with imported oriental stallions. W. S. Sparrow notes, in 1922, "rare, no doubt, because so many copies have been broken up in order that the prints might be sold one by one". The integral engraved text surrounding the image of horse and jockey provides the history and breeding of the subjects of the portraits. The first three horses depicted in this charming album are direct descendants of the three foundation stallions of the modern Thoroughbred breed, namely the Godolphin Arabian (Bajazet, plate 2), the Darley Arabian (Childers, plate 3), and the Byerly Turk (Old Partner, plate 1). All of the other 23 race horses described here trace back to these three stallions just imported into England from the Middle East, as well. According to Pickerell, "all 500,000 of the world's thoroughbred racehorses are descended from 28 ancestors, born in the 18th century", of which, according to Peter Willett, about 50% have Arabian bloodlines, with the remainder evenly divided between Turkoman and Barb breeding. - James Seymour is recognized as one of the earliest English sporting artists. He was the son of a wealthy goldsmith and diamond merchant who supplied the plate for racing trophies. Seymour was passionate about racing and, in addition to drawing and painting them, he is believed to have owned racehorses himself; he was considered one of the most eminent horse painters of his age, and this important and rare album of charming engravings offers a true sampling of his work. - With armorial bookplate with cipher of George Simon Harcourt, Earl Harcourt (1736-1809) on front pastedown. Some early ms. annotations at beginning, some tears and repairs extending into text, first plate laid down. Sparrow, p. 77. Cf. Lane British Racing Prints Seymour 2, nos. 1-7, 11-18, 20-24, 26, 28-33. Mellon Sporting and Animal Prints Seymour 13, nos. 1-7, 11-18, 20-24, 26, 28-33. Cf. Siltzer British Sporting Prints, 389.
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Shaw, Thomas.
Reisen oder Anmerkungen verschiedene Theile der Barbarey und der Levante betreffend. Nach der zweyten engländischen Ausgabe ins Deutsche übersezt. Leipzig, Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf & Sohn, 1765.
Large 4to. (20), 424, (22) pp. With 20 (4 folding) engr. plates and 12 (8 folding) engr. maps. Later marbled half vellum with ms. title to spine. First German edition, translated by J. H. Merck. "Has been praised by Dibdin and others. It is especially esteemed for its botanical and zoological plates, in addition to the information Shaw imparts on the antiquities, geology and geography of the areas he visited" (Navari, Blackmer). "Cet ouvrage est estimé tant pour ses observations relatives à l'histoire naturelle, que pour son exactitude. L'auteur visita pendant douze ans l'Afrique septentrionale" (Gay). "During the period of his chaplaincy to the English factory at Algiers from 1720 to 1733, Shaw travelled in Egypt, Palestine, Cyprus and through much of North Africa. His work is valuable for its accurate descriptions of antiquities, geography and the natural history specimens he observed" (Aboussouan). Shaw (1694-1751) was professor of Greek at Oxford. The maps show parts of Arabia, the Mediterranean, and the environs of Algiers and Tunis. - Binding somewhat rubbed; some browning throughout due to paper; a large tear to one plate repaired. 1840 ownership "A. Lutz" to flyleaf; armorial bookplate "S. G. Koenig, V.D.M." to pastedown. Later in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Howgego I, S92. Weber II, 501. Gay 391. Röhricht 1352. Tobler 124. Nissen, ZBI 3840. Chatzipanagioti-S. 1028. Cf. Blackmer 1533-1535. Aboussouan 842. Graesse V, 362.
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Sionita, Gabriel.
Arabia, seu Arabum vicinarumque gentium Orientalium leges, ritus, sacri et profani mores, instituta et historia: accedunt praeterea varia per Arabiam itinera, in quibus multa notatu digna enarrantur [...]. Amsterdam, Johann Jansson, 1633.
12mo. 297 (but: 287) pp. With engraved, illustrated title page. Contemporary limp vellum with traces of ties. First edition of the collection. Contains: 1. Sionita & Hesronita. De nonnullis orientalibus urbium. "This important work contains early descriptions of Baghdad, Bokhara, Damascus, Medina, Mecca, and Aleppo" (Blackmer). 2. "De moribus atque institutis Turcarum" by the French diplomat C. Richier. 3. W. Drechsler's "Historia Arabum". - Slight worming to first pages; some waterstaining near end. Contemporary ink ownership to pastedown: "Ex libris Bibliothecae S. Dominici Ferrariae"; old stamp to first half-title. An appealing little volume. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 2084 (erroneously "1653"). Blackmer 1544 (note). Weber II, 697. Gay 3452 (erroneously 1653). Hage Chahine 4533. The Heritage Library: Treasures of Islamic and Arabic Heritage (Qatar 2006), s. v. "Travels", with illustration.
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Slatin-Pascha, Rudolf von, administrator in the Sudan, politician, and adventurer (1857-1932).
4 autograph letters signed ("R. Slatin"). [Probably Merano], 1930.
Large 4to. Altogether 6 pp. on 4 ff. In German, to a "dear doctor and friend": "[...] I should like to see you and your dear wife again before my departure [...]" (letter of 12 April; with punched holes in left margin [not touching text]). - "I arrived here 3 days ago after 4 weeks in Bad Hall - without any noticeable results [...]" (letter of 3 September). - "I took Anne Marie from Fetan, where she spent the summer, back to St. Blasien. She has not had the care she needs, but looks well altogether and is happy, though I am not [...]" (letter of 28 September). - "Thank you for your kind letter; I hope that you and your dear wife will do me the honour of dining with me on Saturday at 1 PM [...]" (letter of 6 October). - On stationery with printed address.
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[Slave Trade].
Africa. No. 3 (1900). Correspondence respecting Slavery and the Slave Trade in East Africa and the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. [In continuation of "Africa No. 8 (1899)."] Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. April 1900. [Cd. 96]. London, printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, by Harrison and Sons, 1900.
Folio. (2), 22, (2) pp. Loosely sewn as issued. Rare British parliamentary papers and correspondence with local agents and officers on the slave trade mainly in Zanzibar and on the liberation of several slaves, as well as reports of fugitive slaves having claimed protection from British vessels in the Arabian Gulf (Bandar Abbas, Bandar Lengeh) and off Muscat. - A good copy. Bennett 2243.
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[Slave Trade].
Class D. Correspondence with Foreign Powers, Not Parties to Conventions Giving Right of Search of Vessels Suspected of the Slave Trade. From June 1st to December 31st, 1839, inclusive. London, William Clowes and sons, 1840.
Folio. (III)-XI, (1), 213, (1) pp. Modern blue wrappers with cover label. Includes the extract of an 1839 letter to Viscount Palmerston regarding the slave trade between Zanzibar and Muscat and negotiations for the suppression of the slave trade there, reprinting Article XV of the Treaty entered into by His Highness the Sultan of Muscat, and with intelligence on the profits accruing to the Imaum from slavery. - Paginated "221-443" by a contemporary hand. Well-preserved.
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[Slave Trade].
Slave Trade. No. 8 (1874). Correspondence with British representatives and agents, and reports from Naval Officers, relative to the East African Slave Trade. From January 1 to December 31, 1873. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. 1874. [C.-1064]. London, Harrison and Sons, 1874.
Folio. IV, 160 pp. Sewn, with remains of former spine. Rare British parliamentary papers and correspondence with local agents and officers on the slave trade, including the text of the treaty closed between the UK and Barghash bin Said, the Sultan of Zanzibar, for the suppresion of the slave trade. The Arabic dynasty of the Al-Saids ruled Zanzibar until the revolution of 1964. Barghash (1837-88), second Sultan of Zanzibar, was the son of Said ibn Sultan (1791?-1856), the last of the dynasty whose empire included not only Muscat and Oman, but also Zanzibar, where he had established his capital in 1840. Upon Said's death in 1856, quarrels ensued among his heirs, and his realm was divided: his third son, Thuwaini, succeeded him as Sultan of Muscat and Oman; and his sixth son, Majid, became Sultan of the wealthier Zanzibar, after whose death Barghash became Sultan. - Also includes an account of the murder of a British officer by natives; of a slave dhow run ashore at Ras Madraka on the coast of Oman; etc. Comprises: "Zanzibar" (pp. 1-108); "Reports from Naval Officers. - East Coast of Africa Station" (pp. 109-160). A good copy. Bennett 499.
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Snape, Andrew.
The Anatomy of an Horse. London, Miles Flesher for Thomas Fletcher, 1683.
Folio (243 x 367 mm). (12), 237, (1), 45, (7) pp. With engr. portrait of the author by R. White and 48 (of 49) engraved plates (lacking plate I). Contemporary calf with modern morocco label to gilt spine. First edition. Andrew Snape served as serjeant farrier to King Charles II. In his dedication to the king, he speaks of "being a Son of that Family that hath had the honour to serve the Crown of this Kingdom in the Quality of Farriers for these two Hundred Years." It is this classic work on which François Garsault was to base his 1734 "Anatomie Générale du Cheval". - Some brownstaining; some leaves with repaired tears, binding repaired. With armorial bookplate with cipher of George Simon Harcourt, Earl Harcourt (1736-1809) on front pastedown. Huth 26. Mellon 31. Wing S4382. ESTC R-14873. Nissen ZBI, 3887. OCLC 29155938. Cf. Mennessier de la Lance I, 526.
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Sonnini de Manoncourt, Charles Nicolas Sigisbert.
Reisen in Ober- und Niederägypten. Aus dem Französischen. Mit Anmerkungen und einem Sachregister. Leipzig & Gera, Heinsius, 1800.
8vo. 2 vols. XXIV, 453, (3) pp. XXXVIII, 534, (2) pp. With 13 folding engr. plates and 2 folding tables. Contemp. marbled boards with giltstamped spine labels. First German edition of this account of travels in Upper and Lower Egypt, translated from the French original of the naturalist Charles Sonnini de Manoncourt (1751-1812), who had visited Egypt, Turkey, and Greece in 1777-78. The plates show landscapes, plants, fish, and antiquities. - Binding slightly bumped at extremeties; slight browning throughout. Titles stamped ("Institut für Grenz- und Auslandstudien"). Fromm 24495. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 245. Kainbacher 398. Cox I, 395. Graesse VI/1, 439. Cf. Gay 2250 (1799 French ed.).
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Strabo.
En tibi lector studiose Strabonis geographicorum co[m]me[n]tarios, olim a Guarino Veronese, & Gregorio Trifernate latinitate donatus, iam vero denuo a Conrado Heresbachio ad fidem graeci exemplaris [...] recognitos. Basel, (Valentin Curio), (March) 1523.
Folio (220 x 325 mm). (36), 566, (2) pp. With woodcut title border by J. Faber after Hans Holbein, 2 additional borders, printer's device, and numerous initials. Blindstamped limp leather on four raised bands. Early Latin translation of the geography of Strabo, who had visited Egypt and sailed up the Nile in 25 BC. - Even in the introductory chapters, Strabo provides important details on the Arabian Peninsula: "Adjoining the Ethiopians, a needy and nomad race, is Arabia: one part of which is distinguished above all other lands by the title of Felix [i.e., Hedjaz and Nejd-ed-Ared], and the other, though not dignified by that name, is both generally believed and also said to be pre-eminently blessed. Though Homer knew of Arabia Felix, at that time it was by no means wealthy, but a wild country, the inhabitants of which dwelt for the most part in tents. It is only a small district which produces the aromatics from which the whole territory afterwards received its name, owing to the rarity of the commodity amongst us, and the value set upon it. That the Arabians are now flourishing and wealthy is due to their vast and extended trade" (p. 30f.); "Arabia Felix is bounded by the entire Arabian and Persian Gulfs, together with all the country of the tent-dwellers and the Sheikh-governed tribes. [...] Beside the ocean the country is tolerably fitted for habitation of man, but not so the centre of the country: this for the most part is barren, rugged sand desert. The same applies to the country of the Troglodytic Arabians and the part occupied by the fish-eating tribes" (p. 90f.) Furthermore, chapters 15 and 16 are devoted entirely to the Orient (chapter 16 on Arabia in particular), while the final chapter 17 discusses Egypt and Libya. - The fine title border shows King Solomon among the philosophers and poets of Greco-Roman antiquity; at the bottom, the Nine Muses lay a wreath on the head of Homer. Occasional insignificant brownstaining. The uncommon binding is slightly rubbed; some edge defects professionally restored. Title page has contemporary ms. ownership of the classical scholar Johannes Lyresius from Kleve, professor of Greek at Ingolstadt from 1568 onwards. A few marginalia and underlinings by his and later hands. VD 16, S 9346. Hoffmann III, 457. Schweiger I, 304. Cf. Macro 2148 (only later English translations).
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Tavernier, Jean-Baptiste.
Vierzig-Jährige Reise-Beschreibung. Worinnen dessen durch Türkey, Persien, Indien, und noch mehr andere Oerter, höchst-löblichst-vollbrachte sechsmalige Länder-Reise verzeichnet und in dreyen Theilen vorgestellet. Aus dem Französischen in das Teutsche übergetragen durch J. Menudier. Nuremberg, Knorz für Johann Hofmann, 1681.
Folio (225 x 340 mm). 5 pts. in 1 vol. (24), 296, (4) pp. (8), 232, (4) pp. (8), 200, (4) pp. (8), 122 pp. (2), 120, (4) pp. With 2 engr. title pages, 2 engr. maps (1 double-page), 63 engravings on 30 plates (1 folding) and numerous engravings in the text. Contemp. calf with giltstamped (oxydized) cover monogram "B.P.B.F.", dated "1681". Independently published in Geneva and Nuremberg, this is one of the four slightly different Nuremberg issues of the same year. The first three parts treat Tavernier's travels to Turkey, Persia, India, and Japan (with large map of Japan), containing reports about the Japanese persecution of the Christians and the Dutch settlements in the Far East. Book Two, chapter Nine of the Persian Travels is of particular interest, as it contains an account of Tavernier's voyage through the Arabian Gulf, mentioning Bahrain, Bandar Abbas, Qeshm, and Hormuz and making observations on the people and navigation of the Gulf. Parts 4 and 5 of the present Nuremberg edition contain as a supplement the first German edition of Spon's and Wheeler's archaeological description of their journey to the Levant. The plates depict festivals, processions, costumes, views, and images of the Eastern flora and fauna as well as coins and gems. - Binding slightly chafed in places; lower corners bumped. Interior somewhat browned and brownstained; bookplate of Thomas Christian Wöhler to front pastedown. Seldom found complete; the copies last auctioned all lacked plates or the last 2 parts. The copy described by Laures is likewise incomplete, containing a mere 23 plates. Not in the Atabey collection. VD 17, 12:635124A. Lipperheide 1456 = La 6. Alt-Japan-Kat. 1472. Mendelssohn IV, 462. Laures 530. Graesse VI/2, 43. Cf. Blackmer 1631 (note); Weber II, 279 (the Geneva edition only).
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Thorn, W. & F.
W. & F. Thorn Carriage Pattern Book. London, [ca. 1867].
Oblong 8vo (250 x 150 mm). Ornate lithograph title page and 38 plates in original hand colour, some parts varnished with albumin. Original full brown morocco stamped in gilt and blind. All edges gilt. 38 stunningly hand-coloured plates of coaches in various styles, ranging from the plainest to the most elaborate and luxurious. The first two plates depict horses, a pair and a single horse, harnessed respectively to pull the coaches. The imagery is rich and vibrant; the binding is tight. - William Thomas Thorn (1819-81) and his brother Frederick (1822-82?) continued the prestigious family coachbuilding concern founded by their father Willliam in 1824. Upper board with gilt royal coat of arms and title "W. & F. Thorn Coach Builders & Harness Makers, by Special Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen" within a gilt geometric and floral border with embossed corner pieces. Lower board with same border design but all embossed. Expertly rebacked retaining the original spine; endpapers renewed. Rubbing and slight chipping along edges; occasional foxing, mostly affecting tissue guards. A scarce item, with no copies located on OCLC or COPAC.
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Vaissette, J[oseph].
Géographie historique, ecclésiastique et civile, ou description de toutes parties du globe terrestre. Paris, chez Desaint & Saillant, Jean-Thomas Herissant, Jacques Barois, 1755.
8vo. 12 vols. With 72 engr. maps. Contemp. French full calf with giltstamped labels and gilt spines. All edges red; marbled endpapers. A fine copy of the twelve-volume octavo edition of the most detailed and accurate geography of its day (published simultaneously in four quarto volumes). All the maps are taken from the "Atlas Portatif" (1748-49) of Robert de Vaugondy. The fine map of the Arabian Peninsula is derived, via Vaugondy, from Delisle; "it includes the three classic divisions of the Arabian Peninsula and the following regional subdivisions: Tahama in the south west, Bahrain, which extends along the east coast and includes the town of Cathema, Yemen in the south which includes Oman, the States of the Cherif of Mecca which includes Hagiaz and parts of the centre of the Arabian Peninsula. Although the width of the Red Sea is exaggerated, the Sinai peninsula's shape is very close to reality. The topographical features and watercourses are not very different to how they are shown on other maps of the same period. A town named Naged is shown to the north west of the town of Janama" (Al Ankary). - Some bindings slightly bumped at extremeties. Contemporary ms. ownership "Leon. van Berg" to pastedowns; titles bear stamp of the La Valsainte Charterhouse, Switzerland (dissolved in 1825). Slightly browned. Formerly in the collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Streit 17, p. 252, n. 6198. Brunet VI, 19613. OCLC 34221488. For the map of Arabia cf. Tibbetts 278. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, The Gulf in Historic Maps, S. 162. Al Ankary Collection 338 (all referencing Vaugondy's map).
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Varthema, Lodovico di.
Die Ritterlich und lobwürdig reiß [...] Sagend von den landen, Egypto, Syria, von beiden Arabia Persia, India und Ethiopia, von den gestalten, sitten, und dero menschen leben und glauben. Strasbourg, Johann Knobloch, 1516.
4to. 226 pp. (A8, B-C4, D8, E-F4, G8, H-J4, K8, L-M4, N8, O-P4, Q8, R-S4, T6, V4, X7, without the final blank). With title woodcut and 47 woodcuts in the text (including 1 full-page illustration). - (Bound after) II: Giovio, Paolo. Libellus de legatione Basilii Magni principis Moschoviae ad Clementem VII. Pontificem Max. in qua situs regionis antiquis incognitus, religio gentis, mores, & causae legationis fidelissime referuntur. Basel, [J. Froben], 1527. 39, (1) pp. With woodcut printer's device to t. p. - (Bound after) III: Fabri (of Leutkirch), Johann. Ad serenissimum principem Ferdinandum Archiducem Austriae, Moscovitarum iuxta mare glaciale religio. Basel, J. Bebel, 1526. 18 ff. - (Bound after) IV: Ricoldo (da Monte di Croce). Contra sectam Mahumeticam libellus. (Georgius de Hungaria). De vita & moribus Turcorum. Carben, Victor de. Libellus de vita et moribus Iudaeorum (ed. J. Lefèvre). Paris, H. Estienne, 1511. 86 ff. With large woodcut in the text and several woodcut initials. - (Bound after) V: Ficinus, Marsilio. De religione Christiana & fidei pietate opusculum. Xenocrates de morte, eodem interprete. Strasbourg, J. Knobloch, 1507. 90 ff. With woodcut printer's device on final page. - (Bound after) VI: Haythonus (Hatto). Liber historiarum partium orientis, sive passagium terrae sanctae scriptus anno Redemptoris nostri M.CCC. Hagenau, J. Setzer, 1529. 71 ff. With woodcut title border and device on final page. Contemp. wooden boards with wide blindstamped leather spine and 2 brass clasps. The first illustrated edition (in its second issue) of one of the most famous early travel reports and the first Western encounter with the Arab world. Of the utmost rarity; not a single copy could be traced on the market for the past sixty years; not a single copy in the USA (cf. OCLC). - The "Itinerario" contains the first printed eyewitness account of any place in today's United Arab Emirates: on his return journey from Mecca (which he was the first Westerner to describe), Varthema visited Ras al-Khaimah ("Giulfar") and portrayed the city as "most excellent and abounding in everything", with "a good seaport", and whose inhabitants are "all Muslims". While Montalboddo's famous anthology of discoveries, printed in 1507, contained the first printed reference to the Arabian Gulf region, it was Varthema's work, published only three years later, that offered the first actual report from the region by a Western traveller who had visited the coast. - All early editions of Varthema’s “Itinerario” are exceedingly rare (even the 2013 Hajj exhibition at the MIA, Doha, only featured the 1654 reprint; cf. below). This - the first illustrated one - is certainly the rarest of them all: international auction records list not a single copy. The 1510 editio princeps was offered for US$ 1 million at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair in April 2011. - Varthema, a gentleman adventurer and soldier from Bologna, left Venice at the end of 1502. In 1503 he reached Alexandria and ascended the Nile to Cairo, continuing to Beirut, Tripoli, Aleppo and Damascus, where, adopting Islam and taking the name of Yunas, he joined a Mameluke escort of a Hajj caravan and began the pilgrimage to Mecca. Varthema was amazed by what he observed: "Truly I never saw so many people collected in one spot as during the twenty days I remained there", he begins, and arriving at the Great Mosque, continues, "it would not be possible to describe the sweetness and the fragrances which are smelt within this temple." Thanks to his knowledge of Arabic and Islam, Varthema was able to appreciate the local culture of the places he visited. Impressed and fascinated, he describes not only rites and rituals, but also social, geographical, and day-to-day details. "I determined, personally, and with my own eyes", he declares in the prefatory dedication, "to ascertain the situation of places, the qualities of peoples [...] of Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Felix, Persia, India, and Ethiopia, remembering well that the testimony of one eye-witness is worth more than ten hear-says." His good fortune did not continue unabated, however: after embarking at Jeddah and sailing to Aden, he was denounced as a Christian spy and imprisoned. He secured his release and proceeded on an extensive tour of southwest Arabia. Stopping in Sanaa and Zebid as well as a number of smaller cities, he describes the people, the markets and trade, the kind of fruits and animals that are plentiful in the vicinity, and any historical or cultural information deemed noteworthy. Returning to Aden, and after a brief stop in Ethiopia, he set sail for India. In addition to visiting Persia, Varthema explored the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, including a very documented stay at Calicut at the beginning of 1505. He also purports to have made extensive travels around the Malay peninsula and the Moluccas. Returning to Calicut in August 1505, he took employment with the Portuguese at Cochin and, in 1508, made his way back to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope. - First published in 1510, Varthema's account became an immediate bestseller. In addition to his fascinating account of Egypt, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and the holy Muslim cities, "Varthema brought into European literature an appreciation of the areas east of India [...] which it had previously not received from the sea-travelers and which confirmed by firsthand observations many of the statements made earlier by Marco Polo and the writers of antiquity" (Lach, I. i. 166). "Varthema was a real traveller. His reports on the social and political conditions of the various lands he visited are reliable as being gathered from personal contact with places and peoples. His account of the overland trade is of great value in that we are made to see it before it had begun to give way to the all-seas route. He even heard of a southern continent and of a region of intense cold and very short days, being the first European probably after Marco Polo to bring back the rumor of Terra Australis" (Cox I, 260). - Bound with this work are five other 16th century imprints: II: Giovio's report on Russia is based on conversations with the Russian envoy Dimitry at the court of Pope Clement VII in Rome. - III: "The second printed book on Russia" (NUC), intelligence on Russia gathered by the later bishop of Vienna in Tübingen in 1525 from the envoy of the Grand Prince Ivan Vasilievitch. - IV: "Very rare anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic volume, of which this is the first edition to include the third tract by Victor de Carben" (Schreiber). Contains the report by Georgius de Hungaria, who was captured in 1438 during the siege of Mühlbach and was sold into Turkish slavery. Also includes the anti-Muslim treatise of Ricoldo (1242-1320) and the anti-Semitic pamphlet of Victor de Carben (1422-1515), a converted Rabbi from Cologne. - V: Fine Strasbourg humanist edition of two works by the great Neo-Platonist Marsilio Ficino (1433-99), including his 1474 apology of Christianity against Islam and Judaism. - VI: First Latin edition, edited by Menrad Molther, with his dedication to Georg von Morsum. The Armenian prince Haytho reached Poitiers in 1306 and there dictated his history of the Middle East since the first appearance of the Mongols. - Spine slightly rubbed; some browning, annotations and occasional worming. Ms. index of all works contained on front pastedown. Removed from the Donaueschingen court library with their stamps on first and final page. I: VD 16, ZV 15157. BM-STC 66. IA 113.543 (includes copies in BSB Munich and Wolfenbüttel). Benzing (Strasbourg) 100. Schmidt (Knobloch) 132. Ritter (IV) 932 & 2000. Muller 132, 170. Kristeller 383. Paulitschke 296. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 305. Röhricht 574. Cf. exhibition cat. “Hajj - The Journey Through Art” (Doha, 2013), p. 90 (1655 Dutch ed. only). Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 2239 (other editions only). - II: BM-STC 360. VD 16, G 2081. Adelung I, 188 ("1537" in error). - III: BM-STC 294. VD 16, F 189. Adelung I, 185. - IV: BM-STC 317. Moreau 197. Renouard 9, 1. Göllner 48. Apponyi 78. Schreiber 11. - V: BM-STC 302. Adams F 416. VD 16, F 939. Ritter 838. The same, Catalogue, 978. Schmidt (Knobloch) 33. Muller 117, 29. - VI: BM-STC 403. VD 16, H 870. Adelung I, 119 (imprecise). Röhricht 176 (p. 66). Ritter 1090. The same, Catalogue, 1171. Burg 200. Benzing (Hagenau) 84, 107.
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Vien, Joseph-Marie.
Caravanne du Sultan à la Mecque: Mascarade turque faite à Rome par Messieurs les pensionnaires de l'Académie de France et leurs amis au carnaval de l'année 1748. [Paris, ca. 1749].
Folio (368 x 255 mm). Etched and engraved title and 31 etched plates (numbered 1-30 and one unnumbered). Contemporary French red morocco gilt, arms of Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac on covers (Olivier 407, fer 15), within gilt border of Richelieu’s repeated motif of two crossed batons intertwined with an ornamental “R”, repeated with coronet within arabesques at the corners, spine gilt in compartments with same motif. First edition; a large-paper copy with Richelieu's arms. Vien's charming series of etchings depicts the costumes worn by members of the French Academy in Rome for a "Turkish masquerade" held during the Carnival celebrations of 1748. This masque is an outstanding example of the influence the orient exerted on western style during the late-Baroque era, showcasing the degree to which cultural transfer was possible and even a matter of enthusiastic adoption by the west but little more than half a century after the siege of Vienna. The elaborate masquerades at the French Academy constituted an important fixture in the Roman calendar. As director of the Academy, Vien organised the masque of 1748, the fabulous costumes of which are presented here, designed, drawn and etched by Vien himself. The costumes in the present suite are "a curious mixture of authentic Turkish habits and European invention" (Blackmer), showing the stock figures of the Turkish court liberally enhanced with elements of Vien's own concoction. The fantastical nature of the creations is a far cry from the sober neo-classical style with which Vien is commonly associated (his pupils included some of the foremost artists of the period, notably Jacques-Louis David). Vien's original drawings and oil paintings for the Mascarade are held by the Musée du Petit Palais; they were exhibited in Berlin in 1989. - Some marginal dampstaining and foxing, binding rebacked retaining most of original spine, corners repaired. This copy commanded $26,000 at Christie's New York in 1997. - Provenance: from the library of Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac (1696-1788), a close friend of Louis XV of France, though critical of Madame de Pompadour. He is supposedly the model for the character of Valmont in Choderlos de Laclos' "Les Liaisons dangereuses". Atabey 1288. Lipperheide Sm 10. Colas 3005 (suggesting the plates are un-numbered). Hiler 879. Le Blanc II, 122, 8-39. Cohen/R. 1014f. Brunet V, 1211. Cf. Blackmer 1730. Cf. Gay 3644. Graesse VI/2, 311 (Paris, Bassan et Poignan).
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Warnery, [Charles-Emmanuel] de.
Remarques sur le militaire des Turcs et des Russes. Breslau, Wilhelm Theophil Korn, 1771.
8vo. 264 pp. With 3 folding engr. plates. Contemp. calf with giltstamped red label to gilt spine. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. Second, enlarged edition, published a year after the first and now including "diverses observations sur les grandes actions qui se sont passées dans la dernière guerre d’Hongrie, et dans la présente en Moldavie". This is the first work of the Swiss-born De Warnery (1720-86), published in a German translation as early as 1766 (purportedly against his own wishes): according to the author, never one to eschew self-aggrandizement, he was the first to "unmask the Turks" and show that they did not warrant the fear with which they were usually viewed (cf. ADB XLI, 176). The plates show suggestions for battle arrays. - Unobtrusive repairs to lower cover of the appealing binding. Variously browned and brownstained due to paper. Rare. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Barbier IV, 257. Cf. Atabey 1321 (first ed. 1770). Not in Blackmer.
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