‎Moyen orient‎

‎[Palin, Nils Gustaf].‎

‎Analyse de l'inscription en hiéroglyphes du monument trouvé à Rosette, contenant un décret des prètres de l'Egypte en l'honneur de Ptolémée Epiphane. Dresden, Gebr. Walther, 1804.‎

‎Large 4to. (4), 175, (1) pp. With a folding engraved plate. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine title over red marbled boards. First edition of one of the earliest studies of the Rosetta Stone, published some 18 years before Champollion deciphered the text. N. G. Palin (1765-1842) was a leading Swedish diplomat whose postings included Madrid, Vienna, Dresden, and Constantinople. He made several journeys to Asia Minor, Greece, and Egypt, twice reaching the Cataracts of the Nile. On leave from 1824, he devoted all his time to his Egyptological studies. - Binding only very slightly rubbed; spine professionally rebacked preserving gilt title label and old library label. Paper a little browned; bookplate of the Portuguese historian Francisco Soares de Lacerda Machado (1870-1955) to flyleaf. Rare. Gay 1792. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 194. Brunet VI, 29107. Kayser I, 57. OCLC 40974048.‎

‎Ruphy, J[acques] F[rançois].‎

‎Dictionnaire abrégé François-Arabe, a l'usage de ceux qui se destinent au commerce du Levant. Paris, de l'Imprimerie de la République (par les soins de P. D. Duboy-Laverne), an X (1802 v. st.).‎

‎Large 4to (198 x 260 mm). (4), XV, (1), 227, (1) pp. Contemporary French half calf over papered boards with giltstamped red spine label. Only edition. The first dictionary of Arabic published in France: a unidirectional wordbook of more than 6,000 French terms translated into Arabic (in Arabic typeface), printed in large type and generously spaced, for the use of French merchants in the orient. - In the preface, the author anticipates the concept of linguistic relativity when he observes that Arabic lacks equivalent terms for a multitude of French words, especially such as relate to everyday life, culture, and the mechanical arts, and states that it would be impossible to translate the works of Newton, Montesquieu, or Lavoisier into Arabic, for "l'ignorance d'une chose entraîne nécessairement l'ignorance du mot qui sert à la désigner" (p. ix). With the practical needs of commercial travellers and secretaries in mind, he has thus aimed to pare down the vocabulary of his dictionary to the bare essentials, so as to offer to those who would wish to use Arabic nothing but the most widely used words (p. xiii). - Ruphy, a native of Greece born Iacovos Rouvis, emigrated to France as a young man and participated in Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign before becoming secretary of the Conseil des arts et du commerce du département de la Seine in 1801. - Binding rubbed; extremeties bumped. A fairly large waterstain throughout the lower third of the book. Rare in the trade; a single copy at auction in the past 40 years. Ersch/Gruber V, 53. OCLC 27402218. Spirgatis, Kat. 32: Grammatiken und Wörterbücher (Leipzig 1895), no. 309. Not in Zaunmüller or Vater/Jülg.‎

‎Weston, Stephen.‎

‎Remains of Arabic in the Spanish and Portuguese Languages. With a Sketch by Way of Introduction of the History of Spain, From the Invasion to the Expulsion of the Moors [...]. London, S. Rousseau, 1810.‎

‎8vo. 186, (2) pp. Modern library cloth. Only edition: an early study of the substantial traces which Arabic and other oriental languages left on the Spanish and Portuguese lexicon: Includes two copious word lists. The English antiquarian, clergyman and linguist Stephen Weston (1747-1830) also produced, in 1802, the earliest English translation of the Greek text of the Rosetta Stone. - Inscribed "From the Author" on the half-title. Spine faded. Removed from the Jews' College, London (a rabbinical seminary now known as the London School of Jewish Studies), with remains of a spine label and their several cancelled stamps. OCLC 224972497. Not in Vater/Jülg.‎

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

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

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

‎[Katib Çelebi / Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph von].‎

‎[Kesfü'z-zünun 'an esami el-kutub ve-l-fünun]. Encyclopädische Uebersicht der Wissenschaften des Orients, aus sieben arabischen, persischen und türkischen Werken übersetzt. Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel, 1804.‎

‎8vo. 2 vols. XIV, 283, (1) pp. (2), 285-699, (5) pp. With a few diagrams in the text. Contemporary boards with handwritten spine labels. Rare first edition, "dedicated to the devotees and connoisseurs of oriental literature, by an assiduous student of the same, in Constantinople". One of Hammer's earliest works, written as a barely 30-year-old while serving as secretary to the Austrian delegation in Istanbul, this is the first German version of the bibliographical encyclopedia compiled by the Turkish scholar Katib Çelebi (1609-57), already used by Herbelot. Hammer amplifies this text from six additional manuscripts. - Katib Çelebi's introduction investigates the history, divisions, and estimation of science in the orient. This is followed by more than 300 sub-branches in seven general subjects: writing and calligraphy; language and history; propedeutics; speculative philosophy including natural and arcane science, medicine, and music (the most substantial class, comprising some 250 pp.); practical philosophy (ethics, political science); law and theology; as well as the inward sciences (ascetics). Each branch is headed by its original title printed in Breitkopf's Arabic typeface, often provided with extensive commentary (even discussing the various musical and astronomical instruments) and bibliography. - Bindings rubbed and bumped; spine sunned; interior somewhat browned and foxed as common. From the library of the Prussian chamberlain Rudolf von Stillfried-Rattonitz (1804-82) with his armorial bookplate "Ex Bibliotheca Stillfridiana" on the front pastedown. Goedeke VII, 750, 13. Graesse III, 32.‎

‎La Chappelle, George de.‎

‎Recuel [!] de divers portraits des principales dames de la Porte du Grand Turc. Tirée au naturel sur les lieux. Paris, Antoine Estienne / chez le Blond, 1648.‎

‎Folio (235 x 335 mm). Engraved title, 3 pp. of dedication, 1 leaf (Privilege du Roy), 12 leaves of text interleaved with 12 engraved plates, woodcut headpieces and initials. The plates, probably by Noel (not Nicolas) Cochin after La Chapelle, show costumes against a scenic background. Contemporary full vellum. First edition, very rare. Georges de la Chappelle, a native of Caen, accompanied the French envoy Le Haye to the Porte and spent several years in the Levant. His work is known to us almost exclusively through these engravings, showing what Thieme/Becker described as "the prettiest ladies in the Imperial Seraglio". In the introductory text included in this first edition, La Chappelle explains that the series was occasioned by a recent French edition of Chalcocondyles, in which (as he complains) the women's costumes were very poorly drawn. La Chappelle clearly had a special interest in female costume: "his own representations are highly detailed, with special attention paid to the fabulous jewels and fine needlework that adorn the garments of Levantine costume. (According to the preface, the accuracy of his drawings could be attested by Le Haye [...], in whose presence the drawings were executed.) To add verisimilitude to the plates, examples of Turkish, Persian, Tartar, Armenian and Greek costume are depicted against topographical backgrounds showing the areas in and around Constantinople in which the models were most likely to reside" (Atabey). Curiously, several of these backgrounds, when placed side by side, form a near-consecutive panorama of Constantinople and its environs. - Occasional light brownstains; wants front flyleaf. Vellum slightly stained and wrinkled; lower cover shows traces of old calculations. An attractive copy in a strictly contemporary binding. Atabey 648. Colas 1697. Thieme/Becker VI, 378f. Cf. Blackmer 935 (2nd edition). Not in Lipperheide or Cohen/de Ricci.‎

‎[Alf layla wa-layla - French]. Henri, Auguste (ed.).‎

‎Choix des plus jolis Contes Arabes tirés des Mille et Une Nuits. Leipzig, Karl Cnobloch, 1810.‎

‎Small 8vo. 2 vols. VIII, 320 pp. 406, (2) pp. With 2 engraved frontispieces. Somewhat later brown cloth with giltstamped spine titles. Edges sprinkled. First edition; very rare. This is the earliest "édition pour la jeunesse" cited by Chauvin, containing such popular episodes as "Haroun al Raschid" and "Ali Baba". The editor chose not to tamper with Galland's century-old text, since modernisations would have compromised the "naïveté de narration". Contemporary reviewers, however, were quick to point out that any parts unfit for juvenile consumption had been omitted, while difficult passages referring to oriental customs were elucidated by editor's notes. A second edition (enlarged by a glossary) was published in 1825; a German translation would appear in 1828. - Bindings slightly rubbed. Interior evenly browned with light spotting. From the library of the Bohmian lawyer and amateur naturalist Ludwig Grasse of Reichenbach, with his repeated ownership stamps (ca. 1900). Rare; OCLC lists only three copies in libraries internationally (Cleveland; Weimar; Erlangen-Nuremberg). Chauvin IV, 76. OCLC 4433944.‎

‎Daumas, Eugene.‎

‎Die Pferde der Sahara. Berlin, Allgemeine Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1858.‎

‎8vo. 2 parts in 1 volume. VI, 202 pp. VI, 114 pp. Modern orange cloth. Second German edition (the original French edition appeared in 1851); an English translation was published in 1863. The book is divided into two parts and includes extensive information on the principles of Arabian cavalry, military costumes of horsemen, celebrated Arabian horse breeds (Haymour, Bou-ghareb, Meizique), how to choose and acquire your horse, nutrition, hygiene, the meaning of the variously coloured horse attires, rigging, veterinarian medicine and illnesses, crippledness, castration, various kinds of military attacks in the deserts and how to execute them, tribal wars, as well as ostrich, gazelle, and falcon hunting. The book concludes with general remarks on the Sahara desert and a letter from the Algerian Sufi saint and military and religious leader Abd-el-Kader (1808-83), the Emir of Mascara who founded the Algerian state and led the Algerians in their struggle against French domination and in 1847 was imprisoned with his family by the French government in the fortress of Lamalgue in Toulon (France). The Emir wrote the letter while Daumas served as French consul in Mascara. In this letter the Emir, calling himself Daumas' friend, answers some questions Daumas previously asked him while preparing this book. - The French cavalry general Melchior Joseph Eugène Daumas (1803-71) was "directeur des affaires d'Algerie" and also served as Minister of War. "De 1837 à 1839, il avait rempli, auprès d'Abd-el-Kader, à Mascara, les fonctions de consul, et en 1847 il fut chargé d'une mission spéciale auprès de l'Emir, alors détenu au fort Lamalgue, à Toulon. Ces relations amicales expliquent la part prise par Abd-el-Kader à certains ouvrages du Général Daumas" (Mennessier de la L.). - Some annotations in coloured pencil. Old handwritten ownership "Berkovich" to title and preface. Title-page and table of contents professionally repaired. Cf. Mennessier de la Lance I, 348. Huth 178. Not in Fromm.‎

‎[Kuwait] - Iraqi Arts and Popular Culture Directorate.‎

‎Al-Kuwayt al-qatha al-iraqi al-salib [Kuwait, The Stolen Iraqi Province]. Baghdad, Matba'ah Al-Rabita, no date [but ca. 1961].‎

‎8vo. 35, (1) pp. Half-tone portrait frontispiece of Abd al-Karim Qasim, two other full-page half-tone illustrations and a double-page map of the Gulf. Original printed wrappers, stapled. First edition of a rare pamphlet outlining the Iraqi claim to Kuwait and opposing its independence. - Kuwait emerged as an independent state in June 1961, after 62 years as a British protectorate. With a new constitution, it held its first parliamentary elections in 1963, thereby becoming the first Arab state in the Gulf to establish a parliament. Such political developments, married with growing wealth and modernisations in health, culture and finance, helped to make Kuwait the most prosperous state in the Arabian Peninsula. - The Iraqi government argued that the move toward independence was a continuation of Kuwait's relationship with Britain, albeit under a new guise. Furthermore, they felt that the historical links between Iraq (specifically Basra Province) and Kuwait entitled the former to control over the latter and, one suspects, a share of its growing wealth. This position, argued in the pamphlet, led to a point of crisis, with Iraq threatening invasion. To the relief of Kuwait, the Iraqis were eventually deterred by the Arab League's promise of military opposition. - Extremities darkened, some scuffs and light stains to lower wrapper, otherwise very good. Seemingly unrecorded: no copies in Copac/Jisc or OCLC.‎

‎[Syria and Lebanon - French military cartography].‎

‎[Levant. 1:50,000]. Paris, Service Geographique de l'Armee, 1926-1939.‎

‎26 colour-printed topographic maps, sheets ca. 80 x 57 cm each or smaller. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale 1:50,000. A rare set of 26 maps from the French military's atlas of the Levant, produced from the mid-1920s until the Second World War. Each highly detailed sheet is based on a quarter degree grid cell. The maps in the present ensemble focus on the environs of Aleppo (9 sheets), Latakia and Jableh (2 sheets), Hama and Homs (5 sheets), and Beirut and Sidon, east of the outskirts of Damascus (10 sheets). Considered products of military intelligence by the French government, the maps fell into German hands when Germany invaded France in 1940. The present maps were accessioned by the Geographical Institute of the University of Berlin during the early 1940s and bear the Institute's stamps and pencil shelfmarks. - Individual titles: Alep, Amouk, Batroun, Beyrouth, Djeble, Djezzine, El Hammam, Halba, Hama Ouest, Harim, Homs, Jabal es Smane, Jebail, Kartaba, Lattaquie, Ouest D'El Bab, Ouroum es Soughra, Rachaya-Nord, Rastane-Mecherfeh, Rayak, Saida, Sfire, Tell Kalakh, Tell Rifat, Zahle, Zebdani. - Occasional edge and corner flaws, some wrinkling, duststaining and minor chips and tears to margins, but altogether well preserved. The supersized map of Beirut is folded down the centre. OCLC 49951650.‎

‎Vogler, C. H.‎

‎Allgemeines Gestüt-Buch. Ein Verzeichniss der Vollblut-Pferde nebst ihrer Abstammung. Zweiter Band. Berlin, (Trowitsch & Sohn) for the author and Asher & Comp., 1852.‎

‎8vo. XXXIX, (1), 303, (1) pp. Contemporary full cloth with gilt title to spine and equestrian decoration on upper cover. The second volume of this highly scarce first German general stud-book, listing all thoroughbreds, with their lineage, owned in Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Transylvania, and Galicia. The first volume had appeared in 1847; by 1861 the series would comprise six stud-books. - Old ownership in blue pencil to flyleaf; well preserved. Extremely rare.‎

‎Amira, Georgius Michaelis.‎

‎[Grammatiqi suraya aw kaldayata (...)]. Grammatica Syriaca, sive Chaldaica. Rome, Giacomo Luna, Tipografia Medicea Orientale (in Typographia Linguarum externarum), 1596.‎

‎4to. (30 [instead of 44]), 480 pp. Contemporary limp vellum with handwritten spine title (wants ties). First - and likely only - edition. The first large-scale Syriac grammar, the third ever written (following those of Caninius, 1554, and Widmanstetter, 1555). Composed by the Maronite priest Jiris Ibn Mikha'il ibn 'Amira, it was printed by the Maronite scholar Ya'qub ibn Hilal (Giacomo Luna), who worked at the Medicean Press under Raimondi and was responsible for the Arabic and Syriac publications issued between 1590 and 1594. In 1595 he started printing on his own, and possibly took over some of the types of the Vatican Press. The work is listed as a Propaganda Press imprint ("olim typis nostris impressi") in Amadatius's 1773 "Catalogus", which shows the continuity that was felt to exist between the Medicean Press, the intermediate stage of Luna and Stephanus Paulinus, and the Propaganda Press. In the preface Raimondi is mentioned as the instigator of the work. - The 24 pt Syriac "serto" types were cut in 1590 by Jean Cavaillon for the Medicean Press. In the beginning a Syriac alphabet is presented, in three different scripts: "estrangelo" (this word possibly here used for the first time), "serto", and a Nestorian script possibly in type. This Nestorian script, a cursive form of estrangelo, is introduced here for the first time. In 1633 a slightly different typeface was used for Bellarmino's Catechism. - Preliminaries wanting 7 leaves but containing 4 additional interleaved blanks, two of which bearing Syriac annotations in a large, contemporary hand. Occasional light browning, a few leaves misbound. - Provenance: Handwritten ownership of the Discalced Carmelites of St. Joseph in Paris on the title-page and lower pastedown. - Quite rare. A second edition, supposedly produced in 1645 (cf. Nasrallah, p. 10), is not attested in libraries. Edit 16, CNCE 1541. Adams A 965. BM-STC Italian 356 (s. v. "Jiris"). IA 104.783. Zenker, p. 132, no. 1534. Smitskamp, PO 184. Vater/Jülg 388. Nestle 13. Duverdier, Impressions, 198. OCLC 7238840. Ebert 513 ("Selten"). Brunet I, 231 ("Ouvrage estimé").‎

‎[Iraq].‎

‎Four postcards. Basra, Kerim / Raphael Tuck & Sons, ca. 1900s.‎

‎4 picture postcards. A collection of vintage postcards showing the Ordnance Depot, Basra; the Mouth of the Ashar Creek, Basra; Qashla (Ashar Barracks) Basra; and View, Right Bank, Shatt-El-Arab. - All evenly browned a little; some foxing to view of the Ordnance Depot. The view of Ashar Creek is pre-printed with "Christmas Greetings and all Good Wishes for a Happy New Year".‎

‎Kirk, John, British administrator in Zanzibar (1832-1922); co-explorer with David Livingstone.‎

‎Autograph letter signed ("very sincerely John Kirk"). Zanzibar, 14. VII. 1868.‎

‎4to. 6 pp. of 3 ff. With autograph envelope. To the English diplomat and army officer Christopher Palmer Rigby, Consul of Zanzibar from 1858 to 1861. Kirk raises his doubts about Sultan Majid bin Said's desire to end the slave trade, whilst already foreseeing that his successor-to-be Burghash bin Said would be more open to this aim. - Kirk expresses his hopes that in Zanzibar there will "soon be a more rigorous policy for suppression of [the] slave trade", noting that "this year the Arabs have had it all their own", as Britain was engaged in the Abyssinian Wars, and that "my experience of the Arabs is [...] they are all liars, but Suliman bin Ali the real Sultan and only man to go to if you wish anything done is decidedly no exception", discussing the poor health of Majid, Sultan of Zanzibar, and a school of thought that his expected successor, Burghash bin Said ("a very intelligent Liberal man, outspoken and quick"), would be more friendly with the English, expanding on the rivalry between various local factions within Zanzibar. - John Kirk, chief assistant to David Livingstone during his celebrated expedition from 1858 to 1863, was appointed vice-consul of Zanzibar in 1866, and in 1873 "persuaded the sultan of Zanzibar to sign an anti-slavery treaty, closing the island's slave markets, and providing protection for all liberated slaves" (ODNB). An incomplete transcription of this letter is reproduced in Russell, General Rigby, Zanzibar and the Slave Trade, 1935, pp. 301f.‎

‎[Libya].‎

‎Original press photo (vintage). London, 1949.‎

‎150 x 205 mm. AP press photo showing Sayid Idris al-Senussi in London shaking hands with Eric de Candole, British Administrator of Cyrenaica, and his wife. Captioned on the reverse: "Senussi leader arrives in London. The Emir Sayid Idris el Senussi, head of the state of Cyrenaica, photographed on arrival in London last night July 15. He is shaking hands with Mr. E. A. V. Candole, British Chief Administrator of Cyrenaica. At centre is Mrs. Candole. The Emir travelled from Derna to Marseilles in the battleship 'Vanguard' and thence across France. It is the Emir's first visit to England. While here he will have talks with Mr. Bevin on the future of Cyrenaica". Well preserved.‎

‎[Ottoman Empire].‎

‎Mamalik Muhrsaa wa-Shahanaa bik haa wa'ldygha bilad. Istanbul, Ottoman General Staff, 1309 Rumi Calendar [1893].‎

‎815 x 1140 mm (on 2 separate sheets). The first distance-time route map of the Ottoman Empire, one of the great masterpieces of Ottoman thematic cartography. Devised by the General Staff of the Ottoman Army and depicting the entire realm of the Sublime Porte from Albania to Yemen, it gives travel times between hundreds of locations, including various routes of the Hajj. - The map captures the scene during the middle of the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876-1909), during which the empire still controlled vast territories in Europe, Asia and Africa, extending from the Balkans to the Arabian Peninsula. It is centred upon Anatolia but includes all the core regions of the Empire, extending from Bosnia in the northwest to the head of the Arabian Gulf in the southwest, and from Crimea and Baku in the north and east to Lower Egypt in the southwest. In the lower right corner is an inset capturing the western Gulf, including Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar; an inset above details the Red Sea, including Hejaz, Asir and Yemen; a larger inset in the lower left depicts Ottoman Libya as well as parts of French Tunisia and Algeria. Annotated in Ottoman Turkish throughout, the map is traversed by hundreds of lines that connect every city and town of importance, representing the main land travel routes between these centres; each segment states the estimated travel times between the points. The map also features a chart comparing distances between the principal centres: on average, the chart shows, it took 18 hours to travel from the Red Sea port of Jeddah to the holy city of Mecca. - This is the first map ever to display the distances between all significant travel points in the Ottoman Empire and would have been vitally useful to soldiers, merchants, and government bureaucrats planning their itineraries. It was also one of the only maps to give an approximately accurate notion of the times and distance along several of the most important Hajj routes, including the famous Syrian Hajj Road from Damascus to Mecca, now considered by UNESCO for World Heritage Status. - Transportation had always been one of the great challenges confronting the Ottoman Empire, an astoundingly vast realm spanning three continents and traversing some of the world's most rugged terrain. Yet the Hamidian Era marked a period of rapid modernization, including the creation of macadamized highways, railways and modern ports, and saw the rise of sophisticated cartography. The General Staff was able to draw on exhaustive highway surveys and recent itinerary records. The present map also depicts the rapidly expanding Ottoman railway system, after a wave of development had revolutionized travel in the empire's European domains, but just before an unprecedented boom in railway construction would do the same for Ottoman Asia. The Balkans are traversed by several railways: most notably as of 1888 the great port of Salonika was connected to the rest of Europe by rail, while Istanbul was linked to the European system for the first time that same year, providing the direct route for the famed Orient Express, which commenced in 1889. One will also notice the first great leg of the Anatolian Railway that connected Istanbul to Ankara on 31 December 1892, completed only a matter of weeks before the present map was issued. - Although Ottoman cartographers were producing topographic and thematic maps of the highest sophistication and diversity, every bit as impressive as those of the best German and French and British mapmakers, these works tend to be very rare today and are not nearly as well known as they deserve to be: they were almost invariably issued in small print runs, and maps intended for practical use in the field, such as the present work, tended to perish easily. Also, Turkey's switch to the Latin alphabet, in 1928, ensured that many of the surviving earlier maps were discarded, making this specimen a rare survival of an historic cartographical achievement. - Brownstains and waterstains.‎

‎[Stereo views].‎

‎Mahogany stereoscope, with a collection of stereo images. Probably England, ca. 1900.‎

‎Collection of 48 stereoscopic views (double prints on cardboard) (ca. 86 x 178 mm each). Includes original contemporary stereo viewer with collapsible handle, sliding focus tray, and padded viewing chamber with lenses. An American-manufactured mahogany stereoscope (Perfecscope, Underwood & Underwood, New York) with 48 photographs showing scenes of town and country, architecture, figures, and war. Well preserved, rare with the turn-of-the-century stereoscope in perfect working order.‎

‎[Yemen & Egypt].‎

‎Two glass paintings for a laterna magica, showing Aden and Alexandria. No place, mid-19th century.‎

‎Ca. 8 cms diamater each, encased in wooden frame (ca. 18 x 10 cms).‎

‎Bazelaire de Ruppierre, Marie Léonie de.‎

‎Chevauchée en Palestine. Illustrations par l'auteur. Saint-Dié, L. Humbert, 1891.‎

‎4o. 294, (1) pp., final blank page. With a full-page map of Palestine not included in pagination, 2 full-page plans of Jerusalem included in pagination, and several small print illustrations in the text. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with giltstamped spine and spine-title. Marbled endpapers. Fourth edition of this description of a journey through Palestine by the French painter and writer Bazelaire (1857-1926), first published in 1889. In April 1888 she boarded a ship with a group of pilgrims, which, after a stop in Civitavecchia, from where she visited Rome, dropped anchor in Haifa. Accompanied by her brother Maurice (1840-1909) and her sister Isabelle (1847-89) she departed on horseback to tour the country for a month. Her emotional account describes the places they visited, including Mount Carmel, Nazareth, Tibériade, Jerusalem ("Am I really in Jerusalem, or is it but a dream about to fade away?", p. 129), Mount Olivet, Jericho, the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, Hebron, and the Valley of Josaphat. Among other adventures, a night spent locked in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre near Jesus's empty tomb inspired a particular sense of awe: "It is a night as long as a century, and as short as all joys in the world! [...] All those who have seen Jerusalem know and understand these things, I invoke all pilgrims!" (pp. 253f.). - The initials and illustrations accompanying the text were created by Bazelaire herself. The plans show the old and new towns of Jerusalem. - Extremities insignificantly rubbed; small flaw to spine. Paper somewhat browned and brownstained throughout. A pressed palm leaf is inserted between pp. 124 and 125. Hage Chahine, Guide du livre orientaliste 359. OCLC 1083265900. Cf. Ueckmann, Frauen und Orientalismus 359 (1899 ed.). Kuhn, Orientalische Bibliographie VI, 4225 (1892 ed.). Not in Weber, Cox, Graesse.‎

‎Berners, Juliana.‎

‎The Boke of Saint Albans [...] Containing Treatises on Hawking, Hunting, and Cote Armour [...]. London, Elliot Stock, 1881.‎

‎4to. 32 pp., 1 blank leaf, (54) ff., 1 blank leaf, (34) ff. Contemporary full vellum with blindstamped covers, giltstamped spine and spine-title. First and only edition. An "excellent facsimile publication" (cf. Souhart) of the famous Book of St Albans, the last of eight books printed in England by the St Albans Press in 1486, containing three essays on hawking, hunting, and heraldry. Prefaced to this is an introduction by the English printer and bibliographer William Blades (1824-90) discussing the authorship and printing of the work, which saw numerous editions between 1486 and 1810. The arms illustrating the treatise on heraldry are reproduced in black and white. - Only three perfect copies of the 1486 first edition of the Book of St Albans are known to exist. The original edition credits the book, or at least the part on hunting, to Juliana Berners, who is believed to have been the prioress of Sopwell Priory near Saint Albans, an attribution at the end of the work reading: "Explicit Dam Julyans Barnes in her boke of huntyng". The Book of St Albans is, however, not an original composition, but a compilation from earlier manuscripts. The hawking treatise is considered to be adapted from the "Booke of Hawkyng after Prince Edwarde Kyng of Englande", a manuscript of the reign of Edward IV of England (BL Harley Collection 2340). It is not intended as a full practical treatise on falconry, but introduces technical terms and describes feeding and illnesses. The essay on hunting, in particular, is attributed to Dame Juliana Berners. It is in fact a metrical form of much older matter, going back to a manuscript from the reign of King Edward II, and written in French: "Le Art de Venerie" by the huntsman Guillaume Twici. - Small portion of spine chipped. Occasional foxing to interior. Provenance: handwritten ownerships of the English cleric and author Morgan George Watkins (1835-1911, dated Barnoldby le Beck, 1881), of Humphrey B. Watkins (gift from Watkins, dated April 1906), and of Charles Henry Stanley Garton (b. 1920, dated Kingswood, Medmenham, Bucks., 12 Sept. 1942) to flyleaf. Loosely inserted: a clipping from the "Athenaeum" (11 Sept. 1880); a publisher's advertisement for a facsimile edition of the fishing treatise added to the Book in 1496; and a five-page typescript catalogue of a private collection of falconry literature. Two newspaper clippings on the Book of St Albans are mounted to pastedown. - A good copy of this celebrated facsimile edition of what is considered "the earliest English printed book" (Harting). Huth 379. Souhart 48ff. Schwerdt I, 63. Harting 1. OCLC 841882817.‎

‎Briffardière, Antoine Gaffet de la.‎

‎Petit traité de fauconnerie ou se trouvent les termes de cette espèce de chasse [...]. Paris, Librarie Pairault, 1885.‎

‎8vo. 26, (1) pp., final blank page. Original printed wrappers. Only edition. One of only 150 copies of this treatise on falconry, which is in fact a reprint of the same treatise included in Briffardière's 1742 "Nouveau Traité de Vénerie" (pp. 383-401), which Pierre Clément de Chappeville published after the author's death. Apparently, the editor of the present edition confounded Chappeville with Briffardière, as it was the latter, not the former, who was appointed "Gentilhomme de la Vénerie du Roy", a title mistakenly given to Chappeville on the title-page. - Covers somewhat browned and brownstained; spine chafed; binding loosened. Margins slightly worn. Contemporary ownership of B. C. R. Langford, as well as a later ownership of Charles Henry Stanley Garton (b. 1920), dated Kingswood, September 1943, to front pastedown. Handwritten note on title-page regarding the confusion of authorship, likely by Garton. Schwerdt I, 103. Thiébaud 166. Harting 171. Souhart 367. OCLC 54185123.‎

‎[Burgermeister, Johann Stephan].‎

‎Compendium bibliothecae equestris continentis ex consortio & ministerio equestri praecipuos [...]. [Probably Ulm, ca. 1720].‎

‎4to. (4), 68, 60 pp. (without 16 pages of preliminaries). - (Bound with) II: Manuale equestre, oder Compendium der Reichs-Ritterschafftlichen alt-hergebrachten Rechten [...]. Ulm, Johann Gassenmeyer, 1720. (8), 120, 144, 48, (18) pp. - (Bound with) III: Harpprecht zu Harpprechtstein, Stephan Christoph. Speculi Suevici et praesertim iuris feudalis Amamannici [...]. Kiel, Johann Christoph Reuther, 1723. (10), 240, (2), 154, (6) pp. Contemporary full vellum with handwritten spine label. All edges coloured. Collection of three 1720s manuals on the Holy Roman Empire's legal foundations of the Imperial Knightage and Swabian feudal law. The second part of the first work contains a condensement of Georg Rüxner's famous tournament book, first published in 1530. Burgermeister (1663-1722), who compiled the first two works, was the legal counsel of the Swabian free knights in the Neckar-Schwarzwald district and later served as Imperial councillor in Ulm. "He was the most fervent apologist for the privileges of the free baronetage, and this is the subject of almost all his writings, composed in German. While conceived without plan or discrimination, they do contain valuable source material for the history of the lower nobility of the Empire" (cf. ADB). - The German jurist Harpprecht (1676-1735), a native of Sindelfingen near Stuttgart, taught at the University of Tübingen, later serving in Vienna and then as professor in Kiel in Northern Germany, where he published the present study of his native Swabia's feudal law. - Occasional light browning, but altogether a good, tight copy. VD 18, 1050284X. Pütter (Staatsrecht) I, 320. ADB III, 601. VD 18, 12892033.‎

‎Chenu, Jean Charles / Des Murs, Marc Athanase Parfait Oeillet.‎

‎La fauconnerie ancienne et moderne. Paris, L. Hachette, 1862.‎

‎8vo. (4), 176 pp. With woodcut title-vignette, 45 numbered and several unnumbered woodcut illustrations in the text. With the original printed wrappers bound in at the end. Later half calf over marbled boards with giltstamped spine-title. First edition. - A classic of falconry, this pocket-sized manual is a supplement to the second volume of the ornithological textbook "Leçons élémentaires sur l'histoire naturelle des oiseaux" (1862-63) by the French zoologist Chenu (1808-79) and the ornithologist Des Murs (1804-94). The illustrations show various kinds of falcons, as well as their training and typical flight paths, sometimes displaying specific parts of the birds' bodies like wings and claws in detail. Figure no. 5 ("Faucon sur une Gazelle") is copied from the plate of "Goshawk and Gazelle" by Joseph Wolf, which forms the frontispiece to Richard F. Burton's 1852 work "Falconry in the Valley of the Indus". - Ownership of Charles Henry Stanley Garton (b. 1920), dated Kingswood, 13 October 1943, to front pastedown. Occasional light spotting; traces of the title-page being glued to the first page near the gutter. Harting 200. Schwerdt I, 109. Thiébaud 192. Souhart 100. OCLC 944664144.‎

‎[Egyptian Coptic and Muslim textile fragments].‎

‎A collection of 22 pieces of embroidery fragments and hand-printed linen, assembled by the Swedish archaeologist Carl Johan Lamm (1902-1981). Egypt, from 5th to 6th centuries, 11th century and ca. 1300 AD.‎

‎22 pieces of 19 different fabrics, mounted on thin paper (the last piece loose), mostly ca. 10-15 x 12-15 cm, some larger. Within a 1930s cloth binder (220 x 280 mm). - (Includes): Lamm, Carl Johan. Jordfundne tekstiler fra Aegypten. Særtryk af "Tilskueren" 1938. (Copenhagen, 1938). 333-350 pp. With 7 text illustrations. Contemporary cloth with title label to spine. A fine collection of Egyptian Coptic textile fragments compiled in the 1930s, comprising samples of multi-coloured embroidery and hand-printed linen. Most are of Coptic origin: hand-woven embroideries on linen wraps dated to the 5th and 6th centuries, originally used in tunics or other clothing. The fragments are decorated with human figures, animals and birds, mythical creatures, and floral designs, as well as with geometrical patterns. There are also six scarce blue "Arabic" samples, beautifully hand-printed on linen, from ca 1300 CE, and one woven silk tissue with an arabesque pattern from the 11th century. Four of the Arabic specimens are larger. - Carl Johan Lamm studied archaeology at the University of Stockholm. He wrote about the glass excavated at Samarra in 1928 and became a leading scholar on Islamic arts and crafts, notably in glass and carpets. He was on the staff of the Stockholm Museum and taught at Uppsala University. - Ancient Coptic material of this kind was typically removed from Egyptian graves around the turn of the twentieth century. Lamm may have acquired these specimens while living in Cairo in 1934-37 while assembling a large collection of ancient Coptic textiles, and it would appear that the binder containing the fragments dates from those years. Parts of Lamm's Coptic textile collection are now housed in two Swedish museums; Kulturen museet in Lund and Röhsska museet in Göteborg. - Stored in a worn craft binder, the samples are sewn on paper with hand-written ink annotations and typed descriptions and dates. Several fragments show small losses, but overall most are in fairly good condition. - Includes a printed article by Lamm on "excavated textiles from Egypt", an offprint from the Danish journal "Tilskueren" ("Spectator"). With a few changes, this text was delivered as a speech at the Copenhagen Kunstindustrimuseet in connection with an exhibition arranged by Lamm. The textiles exhibited belonged to Lamm himself, the National Museum in Stockholm, and the Danish Kunstindustrimuseet. This is Lamm's personal copy with his bookplate to front pastedown.‎

‎[Falconry]. - Bree, Charles Robert.‎

‎Levant Sparrow-Hawk. Young Male and Female. [London, George Bell and Sons, 1875].‎

‎Hand-coloured steel engraving. 247 x 150 mm. Plate from "A History of the Birds of Europe, Not Observed in the British Isles" by Charles Robert Bree, published by George Bell and Sons in 1875.‎