4.131 Ergebnisse
4to (170 x 266 mm). Persian and Chagatay Turkish manuscript on polished laid paper. 158 ff. 14 lines of black Naskhi script, set in two columns within gilt borders and black, blue, and red rules; chapter headings in red ink. Prettily illustrated throughout with 28 coloured gouaches (of which 11 are half- to full-page-sized). Margins decorated with gilt scrollwork. Near-contemporary full brown binding with blind-tooled borders and medallion stamps to both covers. Highly rare, charmingly illustrated 18th century manuscript of the story of Yusuf and Zulaikha, which forms the medieval Islamic version of the narrative of the prophet Yusuf and Potiphar's wife. In the Muslim world for centuries, it is found in many languages such as Arabic, Persian, Bengali, Turkish and Urdu, but was given its best-known expression in Persian, by Jami, in the 15th century. - Edges brittle with some tears and chipping, quite extensive remarginings (no loss to text, but obscuring some of the gilt scrollwork borders), occasional light waterstaining. Ownership seals and stamps of Ya Cabbar and Habib Allah.
Folio (250 x 310 mm). (28), 586, (2) pp. Contemporary blindstamped full calf; spine rebacked. Second Henricpetri edition of this elaborate system of astrology, edited by Antonius Stupa. Abul Hasan Ali ibn abi Rijal (also known as Haly or Hali, and by the Latinized versions of his name, Haly Albohazen and Haly Abenragel), probably born in Cordoba, flourished in Tunis from ca 1020 to 1040, where he served as court astrologer to Prince Al-Muizz Ibn Badis. His "Distinguished Book on Horoscopes from the Constellations" enjoyed a great reputation, and he was celebrated as "Ptolemaeus Alter" and "summus astrologus". The work was translated from Arabic into Castilian by Judah ben Moses, upon orders of King Alfonso X of Spain, and - in 1485 - from the Castilian into Latin, by Aegidius de Tebaldis and Petrus de Regio. A manuscript copy containing five of the eight books of a translation into Old Castilian by Yehuda ben Moshe Cohen survives in the National Library of Spain. "De Judiciis Astrorum", a Latin translation of the Old Castilian manuscript, was first published in Venice in 1485 and became an important source in Renaissance Europe for the understanding of medieval astrology. - Spine and binding repaired; some duststaining to the first pages. Entirely complete: VD 16 cites 20 ff. of prelims in error; all digitized copies entirely agree with the present specimen. Removed from the Ampleforth Abbey library in North Yorkshire with their bookplate to pastedown. A good copy. VD 16, A 1884. Cf. BM-STC German (1551 ed.). M. H. Fikri, Treasures fron the Arab Scientific Legacy in Europe, Bibliography, no. 26 (1551 ed.). Honeyman I, 54 (editio princeps). Not in Adams.
Folio (55 x 40 cm). Two parts in one volume. Engr. title printed in red and black, list of plates, 24 hand-coloured lithographs. Contemporary French red half roan by Meslant with his stamp at the spine foot, flat spine lettered and tooled in gilt, marbled boards and endpapers. First edition: the hand-coloured copy of the Duke of Orleans, in a signed binding by Meslant, celebrated court binder of the Empire period. The Duke is listed as co-publisher on the engraved title. - Some spotting to text leaves, one plate with old repair in the bottom margin, others repaired in the inside margin, some plates slightly and evenly yellowed. Extremities rubbed, corners scuffed with some surface loss. Provenance: Ferdinand Phillipe, Duke of Orleans (1810-42; title-stamp of his military library). Mennessier de la Lance I, 41. Huth 121.
8vo. 2 vols. VIII, 472, XXXIV. (4), V, (6)-238 pp. With 2 lithogr. frontispieces, 9 lithogr. plates on Chine appliqué and 1 folding lithogr. map of Central Arabia and Egypt. Contemporary tan calf bindings, spines renewed in period style. First edition. The second volume - and the map - are devoted entirely to the so-called "Nedjed Country". - "The first political and commercial treaty between Great Britain and Persia was concluded in 1801, when the East India Company sent John Malcolm to the Court of Fath Ali Shah. Persia undertook to attack the Afghans if they were to move against India, while the British undertook to come to the defence of Persia if they were attacked by either the Afghans or the French. When the Russians intensified their attacks on the Caucasian Provinces in 1803 annexing large territories, Fath Ali Shah appealed to the British for help, but was refused on the grounds that Russia was not included in the Treaty. The Persians thus turned to the French and concluded the Treaty of Finkenstein in 1807. It was against this background that Harford Jones, who was the chief resident at Basra for the East India Company, was sent to Persia by the Foreign Office in 1809 [...] The French who had now entered into a treaty with Russia (the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807) had lost interest in Persia and removed their political and military missions. Thus the British were able to conclude another treaty with Persia (the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, also called the Treaty of Tehran) which bound Britain to assist Persia in case any European nation invaded her (even if Britain had a treaty with that nation). This treaty was not honoured by the British after the first Persian-Russian War" (Ghani). Volume 2 is devoted exclusively to the Wahhabis, tracing their history from the mid-eighteenth century to their defeat by Egyptian Ottoman forces at the site of the Wahhabi capital, Dariyah (Dereyah), in 1818. - Rare: the only other copy in a contemporary binding on the market within the last 30 years was the Burrell copy (wanting half titles and rebacked; Sotheby's, Oct 14, 1999, lot 127, £8,000). Only slightly browned and foxed (occasionally affecting plates), but altogether fresh, in an appealing full calf binding. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 606. BM IV:457 (941). Wilson 33. Cf. Ghani 53f. (reprint). Diba 79.
Large 4to (278 x 228 mm). XVI, 478 pp. With five lithographed maps (one folding). Contemporary full calf with gilt spine, two labels, and cover borders. Gilt inner dentelle, marbled endpapers. All edges marbled. First edition (the second of the same year was in two volumes, octavo). Burckhardt travelled disguised as an Arab, making his notes clandestinely. This work deals primarily with his travels to Mecca and Djidda, Medina and Yembo. The Lausanne-born Burckhardt (1784-1817) was a remarkable character, the first Westerner to visit the Holy Cities. In the guise of a pilgrim "he proceeded to perform the rites of pilgrimage at Mekka, go round the Kaaba, sacrifice, &c., and in every respect acquitted himself as a good Muslim. No Christian or European had ever accomplished this feat before; and the penalty of discovery would probably have been death. [...] Burckhardt possessed the highest qualifications of a traveller. Daring and yet prudent, a close and accurate observer, with an intimate knowledge of the people among whom he travelled, their manners and their language, he was able to accomplish feats of exploration which to others would have been impossible" (Stanley Lane-Poole, in DNB VII, 293f.). - Extremeties quite severely rubbed and bumped. Spine shows traces of early repairs, using the original material. Several tears to the half-title, light foxing to beginning and end, otherwise internally a very good copy from the library of the Rev. Thomas Thurlow (1788-1874), Rector of Boxford, Suffolk, with his engraved bookplate to the front pastedown. Rare. Macro 627. Howgego II, p. 82f., B76. Weber I, 168. Henze I, 407. Gay 3606. Graesse I, 575. Cf. Blackmer 239. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 106. Not in Atabey.
Large folio (456 x 592 mm). Modern half morocco over marbled covers, spine gilt around raised bands with gilt spine title. 9 tinted lithographs on 8 plates (2 on 1 leaf) after Robert Clive. 3 leaves (1 repeat) of letterpress printed on rectos only. First edition of this rare lithographic plate book of Mesopotamian antiquities and views. The first instalment of a total of three, containing nine lithographs: 1. Sculptures at Nimroud-Lions; 2. Moosul; 3. Hît; 4. Distant view of Mount Ararat; 5. Arab encampment near the Birs Nimroud (on one sheet); 6. Sheikh Adi; 7. Baghdad; 8. Roman ruin on the way to Palmyra; 9. Sculptures in the Mount at Nimroud. The Victoria and Albert Museum ascribes this work to the artist Robert Charles Clive (1827-1902). - Original torn and somewhat defective front wrapper laid down on heavy paper and bound into a modern half calf binding; plates and binding fine. The two-page list of plates with descriptions is also laid on heavy paper. OCLC 785146909. Not recorded in Atabey, Blackmer, Tooley, Röhricht or Tobler.
Royal folio. 2 vols. XXVI, 290 pp. XXIV, 300 pp. With 251 plates and numerous text illustrations. Publisher's original green cloth. First edition, printed in 550 copies only. Principal work of the great architectural historian of Muslim Egypt. Beginning where his "Early Muslim Architecture" left off, this monumental two-volume set traces the history of Egyptian Islamic architecture from the dynasty of the Ikhshids and Fatimids (A.D. 939-1171) to that of the Ayyubids and early Bahrite Mamluks (A.D. 1171-1326). Creswell had begun his work in 1920 with a generous grant of King Fuad I; the present publication is dedicated to Fuad's son, Farouk I. - The publisher's voucher copies: numbers 4 and 2 of 550 copies printed, removed from Printer's Library of Oxford's famous Clarendon Press. In perfect condition. - Rare, the last complete copy sold in 1999 (Sotheby's, Oct 14, lot 185). OCLC 1105072.
4to. (20), 360 pp. Title-page within a border of cast fleurons, woodcut arms of the dedicatee Charles II of Spain, and several woodcut initials and tailpieces. Modern gilt blue morocco by the leading Barcelona binder Emilio Brugalla (1901-87), also active in Madrid, signed at the foot of the front turn-in: "Brugalla 1946", with the arms of the Spanish bibliophile Isidoro Fernandez (1878-1963) stamped in gold on front and back in a blind-stamped panel, double fillets on binding edges and richly gold-tooled turn-ins, gilt edges. First edition of an interesting and detailed account of the first overland journey from Spain to the East Indies (1671-80) made by the Spanish missionary Sebastian Pedro Cubero. Interestingly, Cubero covered most of his route by land, as would later Careri, thus constantly being able to observe the customs, religions, ceremonies and costumes of the peoples he visited, describing them in considerable detail. After spending time in Italy, where he was appointed as a missionary to Asia and the East Indies, Cubero travelled by way of Istanbul and Moscow to Iran, visiting Isfahan ("Hispaham") and Bandar Abbas, after which he finally arrived in India. After crossing to Malacca he was imprisoned by the Dutch and later banished from the city. He then proceeded to the Philippines and ultimately, by way of Mexico, back to Europe. "After a stint as confessor in the imperial army in Hungary, Cubero became one of the notable travellers of the seventeenth century. What set him apart was the variety of his traveller's hats. Most obviously a missionary [...], he also became [...] a representative figure of the whole exploratory enterprise. By circumnavigating the globe in his travels, he was recognized in his own time to be another Magellan, Drake, or Cavendish" (Noonan). - With bookplates on pastedown; t. p. has contemporary ownership of Pere de Ribes-Vallgomera de Boixadors, Marques de Alferras, ennobled by Philip V in 1702. Some occasional foxing and a small restoration, replacing the outer lower corner of the title-page in a subtle facsimile. Very narrow margins, occasionally just shaving the headlines and quire signatures, otherwise in very good condition. Rare in the market: two copies appeared at auction in the last 50 years. Palau 65756. Sabin 17819. OCLC 14110894. Howgego C225. Lach & Van Kley III, 360. Maggs cat. 495, 303. This ed. not in Salvá. For the author cf. F.T. Noonan, The road to Jerusalem: pilgrimage and travel in the age of discovery (2007), p. 104.
4to (157 x 202 mm). (8), 339, (5) pp. With additional engraved title and 2 portraits. Original papered boards with handwritten lettering to spine. First Italian edition of a fascinating and detailed account of the first overland journey from Spain to the East Indies (1671-80) made by the Spanish missionary Sebastian Pedro Cubero. Interestingly, Cubero covered most of his route by land, as would later Careri, thus constantly being able to observe the customs, religions, ceremonies and costumes of the peoples he visited, describing them in considerable detail. After spending time in Italy, where he was appointed as a missionary to Asia and the East Indies, Cubero travelled by way of Istanbul and Moscow to Iran, visiting Isfahan ("Hispaham") and Bandar Abbas, after which he finally arrived in India. After crossing to Malacca he was imprisoned by the Dutch and later banished from the city. He then proceeded to the Philippines and ultimately, by way of Mexico, back to Europe. "After a stint as confessor in the imperial army in Hungary, Cubero became one of the notable travellers of the seventeenth century. What set him apart was the variety of his traveller's hats. Most obviously a missionary [...], he also became [...] a representative figure of the whole exploratory enterprise. By circumnavigating the globe in his travels, he was recognized in his own time to be another Magellan, Drake, or Cavendish" (Noonan). Included are three very three very detailed chapters of devoted to China, Tartary and the Chinese-Tartarian wars. Additionally, there are important discussion of Persia, India, Malacca, the Philippines, and Mexico; chapter XX (pp. 136-156) contains an extensive discussion on Islam, the birth and death of Mohamed and Mecca and Medina. Chapter XXXIII (p. 225-229) contains a discussion of the the Kingdom of Ormuz and Bandar Abbas, the city on the Straits of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. - Bookplate of the New York "Explorers Club" (James B. Ford Library) to pastedown. Old inscriptions to front flyleaf; occasional stains. Lacks lower flyleaf; small tear to corner with loss of some text to fol. O4. This is the only copy of this edition that appears in the auction records over 30 years, no copy in the trade. Howgego C225. Cf. Sabin 17820. Palau 65757. For the author cf. F.T. Noonan, The road to Jerusalem: pilgrimage and travel in the age of discovery (2007), p. 104.
2 volumes. Large 4to (37.5 x 31 cm). With ca. 80 lithographed plates and numerous illustrations and decorations in text, many beautifully coloured by hand and some highlighted with silver and/or gold. [16], 172, [18], [2 blank]; [14], 221, [1 blank], [17], [1 blank] pp. Original publisher's gold-blocked blue cloth, with a coloured hooded hawk on front boards, upper edges gilt, other edges untrimmed. Very rare, limited first and only edition of an exquisitely produced work on falconry and equestrian sports, a showpiece of Dutch art nouveau book illustration. The first volume, on falconry, contains reproductions of the plates from Schlegel and Wulvenhorst's "Traité de fauconnerie" (1844-53), "the finest work on falconry which has ever been produced" (Harting), and opens with a section devoted to the Dutch Prince Alexander van Oranje-Nassau (1818-48), president of the Royal Hawking Club, and ends with a list of terms together with their translation into English, French and German. The second volume treats the equestrian sports in the Netherlands, England, France, Germany and Belgium, with illustrations of races and hunts. Much of the information derived from previously unpublished sources concerning the Dutch Royal family and their horse- and falconry related activities. - It is a separately published follow-up to the ten volume set Het historisch museum van het Korps Rijdende Artillerie (1898-1904), that was published to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Dutch Horse Artillery Corps (The Yellow Riders). The complete series ranks "among the most beautiful military publications in the world" (Sloos). - The book was financed and privately published in a limited number by Nicolaas Jan Adriaan Pieter Helenus van Es (1847-1921), Captain of the Dutch Horse Artillery Corps and amateur painter. He was assisted artistically by Jan Hoynck van Papendrecht (1858-1933), Hendrik Maarten Krabbé (1868-1931), Willem Constantijn Staring (1847-1916). The first was famed for his military art. - With a presentation inscription from the author to Colonel Harhoff dated 1913, in each volume, and with library stamps of the Royal Garrison Library Copenhagen ("Det Kgl. Garnisons Bibliothek i Kiøbenhavn" and "Artillerie bibliothek"). Bindings only slightly scuffed at the foot of the spine, otherwise in very good condition. NCC (4 copies). Sloos, Gewapend met kennis, pp. 376-379. Cf. Harting 194.
Oblong 1mo (48 x 63.5 cm). With 6 tinted lithographed plates by Frisch, with captions in German and French below. The first three in the deluxe issue printed by B. Dondorf, Frankfurt am Main, the last three in the regular issue printed by G. Küstner. Original publisher's letterpress printed wrappers, with a list of subscribers and advertisements on the back of the front wrapper. Extremely rare set of six beautifully lithographed plates showing scenes made on a journey to the Middle East to procure Arabian horses for the Royal Wuerttemberg stud farms, by Friedrich Frisch (1813-86), court painter in Darmstadt. In 1840/41 he accompanied the Wuerttemberg chamberlain Wilhelm von Taubenheim (1805-94), the writer Friedrich Wilhelm Hackländer (1816-77) and the physician Karl Bopp (1817-47) on a journey to the Middle East to procure Arabian horses for the Royal Wuerttemberg stud farms Weil and Marbach. They first went to Constantinople, where they were welcomed by Sultan Abdülmecid I, continuing to Beirut, Damascus and Jerusalem. In Jaffa they met the Ottoman general Ibrahim Pasha. - The set was originally published in two instalments and available in two issues: a deluxe issue printed with a larger tinted background with white highlights (plates 1-3) and a regular issue (plates 4-6). They show: (1) a rider on a dromedary with a letter to Ibrahim Pasha; (2) the camp of Ibrahim Pasha; (3) three Bedouin horse riders; (4) another scene with Bedouins; (5) the group's passage through the Balkans; and (6) a Turkish courier. All views, except the first, include horses. - Hackländer wrote a short text to accompany the set, but it is not included. Two plates slightly soiled in the margins and some tiny tears along the extremities, otherwise in very good condition. Engelmann, Bibliotheca geographica, p. 123. Thieme/Becker XII, p. 491. Not in Dejager; Huth; Mennessier de la Lance; Podeschi. WorldCat (2 copies, incl. 1 with text only).
Large 4to (23 x 28 cm). 2 vols. XII, XXXIV, (2), "681" [= 683], (1 blank) pp. VIII, 978 pp. Contemporary half calf, rebacked with the original backstrips laid down. Rare revised and expanded penultimate edition of a massive navigational directory, with exhaustive information on the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the Arabian (Persian) Gulf. Including detailed entries on Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi ("Abothubbee") and Bahrain, not only covering navigational details, but also the inhabitants, pearl fishery, geography, commerce etc., and shorter entries on islands such Sir Bani Yas, Zirku etc. For this edition expanded from the "extensive surveys along the N.E. coasts of Africa and Arabia, and into the Gulf of Cutch, compiled from the meritorious labours of Captain Haines, Carless, and Sanders, Commander Campbell, Lieutenant Grieve, and other officers of the East-India Company's Marine service" (preface). It was compiled chiefly from recent journals of ships employed by the East India Company, by James Horsburgh (1762-1836), hydrographer and chart maker to the Company. "As hydrographer Horsburgh was primarily responsible for supervising the engraving of charts sent back to London by marine surveyors in India and ordered by the company to be published, and for examining the deposited journals of returning ships for observations which would refine the oceanic navigation charts currently in use, besides other duties of provision of information laid on him by the court" (Cook). The book appeared in a total of eight editions between 1809 and 1864 before being superseded by Findlay's "A directory for the navigation of the Indian Ocean" (1869). - With the seller's ticket of George Sweetser, "dealer in sextants, quadrants, telescopes and compasses, nautical books & charts, …" and the early owner's inscription of "Wm. A. Ordway, Bradford, Mass.". Some browned corners in the opening leaves and some tiny waterstains in the head margin of volume two, otherwise in very good condition. Bindings rubbed and rebacked. Cf. Cat. NHSM, p. 73 (5th ed.); Sabin 33047 (5th ed.). For the author: Cook, "Horsburgh, James (1762-1836)", in: ODNB (online ed.).
Tall 8vo (104 x 220 mm). Arabic manuscript on polished paper. (1), 185, (1) ff. Naskh script in black and occasional red ink, with catchwords and extensive marginal notes in a contemporary hand. 19th century leather, ruled and decoratively stamped in blind. Popular and influential mediaeval Arabic handbook for medical students by the great Damascus anatomist Ibn al-Nafis (1210-88). Long considered a commentary on Avicenna, this is now viewed by scholarship as an original work which also discusses Avicenna's ideas, and thus as "an independent book meant to be a handbook for medical students and practitioners, not as an epitome of Kitab Al-Qanun of Ibn Sina as thought by recent historians" (Abdel-Halim, 2008). One of the author's most widely received works, it provides a useful sum of medical knowledge to aspiring physicians of the mediaeval and early modern periods alike. It was still being copied centuries on from the death of Ibn al-Nafis, who is famous for first describing the pulmonary blood circulation, thereby anticipating by many centuries the efforts of William Harvey. - Not dated by the scribe, but one of the ownership dates on the first leaf is dated Shawwal 1100 AH (July/August 1689 CE), and the date of copying would be estimated around 950 AH, or possibly later. Covers lightly scuffed, interior shows marginal paper repairs and slight trimming to outermost marginal notes. The main text is clean and unmarred. GAL I, 493, 37, 2 & I, 457 (s. v. Ibn Sina). Rabie E. Abdel-Halim, "Contributions of Ibn Al-Nafis (1210-1288 AD) to the Progress of Medicine and Urology. A Study and Translations From his Medical Works", in: Saudi Medical Journal 29.1 (2008), pp. 13-22.
4to (170 x 214 mm). (4), 65, 51 ff. Early 19th century half calf with marbled covers and fore-edge flap. Pink paper pastedowns. The seventh book printed by Ibrahim Müteferrika: a history of Egypt from antiquity to early modern times, prepared by the Turkish scholar Ahmed Süheylî (1562?-1632). The modern section (bound first, as usual) is in fact an Ottoman Turkish translation of the chronicle of the Ottoman-Mamluk war of 1516/17, "Fath Misr" (Tarikh as-sultan Selim al-Utmani ma'a as-sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri) by Ibn Zunbul (d. 1574/75). - Handwritten ownership of the French diplomat Louis Lagarde (dated 1923 CE) to front flyleaf. Occasional light browning and fingerstains, but mostly an excellent copy on good, crisp paper. Özege 19868-19869. GAL S II, p. 409. Toderini III, p. 85, no. VI.
8vo. (6), IV, (16), 69, (3) pp. With 30 engraved plates (some depicting cuts of diamonds) and tables. Contemporary mottled calf with gilt dentelle border and corner fleurons (rubbed); modern spine on 5 raised bands. Rare first edition of the "first book in English to describe how diamonds and pearls can be evaluated on the basis of the factors of size (or weight) and style of cut" (Sinkankas). The London jeweller Jeffries is also the first author to provide "a clear statement of the principle that the value of pearls should be calculated to the square of their weight [...] This principle is implicit in the valuation tables given by earlier authors, including Tavernier and others, but Jeffries is the first to state it explicitly. At the back of his book, he provides tables allowing the calculation of the value of individual and batches of pearls of different size or quality. This is effectively a 'chau' book, as used by merchants in the Gulf and India until the mid-20th century, and fulfils exactly the same function" (Carter). - "The text explains the [diamond] cutting procedure, how the evaluation rules were derived, the importance of imperfections and flaws as affecting price, notes on rough diamonds [...] and finally, a somewhat similar procedure for the valuation of pearls, with highest values accorded to pearls of closest approach to spherical perfection, luster, etc. The mathematical rule used for the pearl is known as the 'square of the weight' multiplied by a per-carat base price" (Sinkankas). - Includes a list of subscribers in the preliminaries. Occasional spotting, a few small stains. Small tape repair to title, plates 5 & 6 with short repaired tears (no loss). Professional repairs to corners; modern spine (repairs including the first inch of the covers); modern endpapers. Removed from the Library of the Birmingham Assay Office, one of the four assay offices in the United Kingdom, with their library stamp to the title-page. Sinkankas 3195. Carter, Sea of Pearls, p. 83, 125f., 251 (with illustrations). Goldsmiths' 8500. Hoover 453 (note). Cf. Roller/G. II, 10.
Oblong royal folio (536 x 445 mm). Engraved title-page, engraved dedication to Ludwig Wilhelm August, Grand Duke of Baden, (4), XX pp. of letterpress text, 25 plates (= 24 lithogr. plates of horse portraits and 1 anatomical plate). Contemporary half calf with handwritten cover label; publisher's original illustrated lithogr. wrappers bound within. First edition, self-published by the author in Karlsruhe, with Ebner's Stuttgart address pasted on the wrapper's upper cover. All that was published of this splendid and rare work about the principal breeds of horses, issued in what must have been a very small press run by Kuntz (1797-1848), Painter to the Court of Karlsruhe, Baden, who is also known for drawing the full-blooded Arabian horses of the Royal Württemberg Stud, the first Arabian stud in Europe. For the present work Kuntz made extensive travels in Hungary, London and Paris to draw his exquisite portraits of Arabian, Persian, Egyptian, Nubian, English and many other thoroughbred horses from life. - Binding professionally repaired at the edges. Interior somewhat foxed and fingerstained. From the officers' library of the Württembergian Uhlan (light cavalry) regiment no. 19. Nissen, ZBI 2328. Thieme/Becker XXII, 116. Wells 4313. Graesse I, 87.
4to. (16), 540, (10), (2 blank) pp. With a woodcut and an engraved author's portrait, 34 woodcut illustrations in text, including several full-page, and some woodcut initals, head- and tailpieces. Contemporary calf, gold-tooled spine. Rare first edition of a travelogue by the French explorer, merchant and diplomat François de la Boullaye-Le Gouz (ca. 1610-69). The largest part of the book deals with his travels through the Middle East and India, while a smaller parts treats Le Gouz's travels through Europe. In 1643 he travelled the Middle East under the name Ibrahim Beg, visiting Syria, Palestine, Persia, Egypt, Anatolia and Armenia. "Like so many European travellers in the east he adopted oriental clothes and an oriental name ... Unlike most European travellers to the east, however, La Boullaye-Le Gouz continued to wear his Persian clothes in his return to France and was consequently regarded as something of a curio" (Hamilton). A few years later he was sent by the French king with an embassy to the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan, where he met and became great friends with the Jesuit Alexandre de Rhodes (1591-1660). - La Boullaye-Le Gouz describes the routes he takes, the cities he visits and the people he meets along the way, with frequent observations on religion, natural history and commerce. The illustrations show various Indian deities, some city views or buildings, Indian and Eastern costumes, plants and trees. Pages 243-255 deal with plants, fruits and trees in India, including several palm trees, a fig tree, a jack tree and a melon tree. "The work is notable for its information on northern India and its relations to Persia, and for its inclusion of a summary of the Ramayana" (Howgego). - In Europe, Le Gouz travelled Italy, Greece, Poland, England, Ireland, Germany, and the Netherlands. In his later years he travelled again to Persia and died in Isfahan probably in 1669, whereafter the Shah ordered a splendid funeral to be held. Included at the end of the book is a list of names of the people La Boullaye-Le Gouz met, sorted by country; a list of uncommon words, and a table of contents. A second, enlarged edition was published in 1657 at Troyes. - Binding rubbed, restored and front hinge partly cracked. Occasional small (water) stains, otherwise in very good condition internally. Atabey 645. Hage-Chahine 2526. Hamilton, Europe and the Arab world 22. Howgego, to 1800, L4. Slot, The Arabs of the Gulf 1602-1784, p. 410. WorldCat (5 copies). Not in Blackmer.
8vo. VII, (1), 272, 12 pp. With a folding hand-coloured map and a plate (view of Mount Ararat). Contemporary polished calf, spine gilt, rebacked retaining original spine. Marbled endpapers. First edition. - Rare travel report by the British lieutenant Thomas Lumsden, who journeyed from Meerut near Delhi down the Ganges to Calcutta, then onwards by boat to the Arabian Gulf and by land through Persia (Iran), the Caucasus, and southern Russia. A German translation appeared in the same year (and was republished in 1824). The author gives a detailed account of his voyage through the Gulf from Muskat to Bushire immediately after the British Navy's controversial 1819 campaign against Ras al-Khaimah, and notes approvingly the Arabs' kindness and hospitality toward their foreign guests ("which could hardly have been the case, had their detestation of Christians been in reality as great as the Koran tends to inspire"), as well as the entire absence of the cruel mistreatment of the sailors so common on European ships. - Plate slightly browned; a fine copy. Wilson 131. Salmaslian 135. Miansarov 3022 Lowndes 1413. Western Travellers in the Islamic World AR-2028. Cf. Griep/L. 840. Engelmann 124. Not in Macro.
2 vols. VIII, (6), 484, (2) pp. (16), 456 pp. (6), XXXXI, (1), 408, (14) pp. With 2 engraved title-pages, each with an engraved vignette (that for volume 2 from the plate of the 1774 "Beschryving" with the lettering revised; that for volume 1 copied from it and unsigned), 125 engraved plates numbered I-LXXII, [LXXIII] (vol. 1) & I-LII (vol. 2) (38 folding), showing topographic views, watermills, people, Egyptian and Persian antiquities, Egyptian, Persian, cuneiform and other inscriptions, etc. by C. F. Fritsch, C. J. de Huyser, Th. Koning, G. H. Koning, C. Philips, O. de Vries, Baurenfeind and others. The unnumbered folding map of Yemen ("Tabula Itineraria", plate size 48.5 x 41.5 cm), with the trade routes coloured by hand, covers a smaller area at a larger scale than that in the Beschryving. - (Bound with) II: Niebuhr, Carsten. Beschrying van Arabie, uit eigene waarnemingen en in 't land zelf verzamelde narigten opgesteld. Amsterdam, Steven Jacobus Baalde; Utrecht, Johannes van Schoonhoven & Co. (colophon: printed by Johan Joseph Besseling), 1774. With engraved title-page showing an engraved vignette by N. van der Meer (2 female figures with a globe and other instruments) and 25 engraved plates numbered I-XXIV, (XXV), including 7 folding showing 1 view of military exercises, 2 Kufic inscriptions (coloured by hand) and 4 maps. The unnumbered map of Yemen (plate size 58.5 x 39 cm) is coloured by hand in outline. The full-page plates include maps, topographic views, costumes, coins, Arabic inscriptions, etc. All by C. J. de Huyser, N. van der Meer, Th. Koning and C. Philips. 2 works in 3 volumes. 4to. Contemporary half tree calf, sides covered with paste paper; rebacked, with original gold-tooled backstrip laid down. One of the very rare large paper copies of the first and only editions of the Dutch translation by Jacob van Ekers of Niebuhr's famous account of a voyage to Arabia and surrounding countries (ad 1) and his description of Arabia, Egypt and the Middle East (ad 2). Both works were originally written by the Danish traveller and surveyor Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815) and published in German, in Copenhagen in 1772 under the titles, "Beschreibung von Arabien" and "Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und anderen umliegenden Ländern". Both works were also translated in French and English. - In 1760 Niebuhr was invited to join a scientific expedition to Egypt. Other members of the expedition were Friedrich Christian von Haven (a Danish linguist and orientalist), Christian Carl Kramer (a Danish physician and zoologist), Georg Baurenfeind (an artist from southern Germany), Berggren (a Swedish ex-soldier) and Pehr Forrskal (a Swedish botanist). In January 1761, the expedition sailed from Copenhagen, Denmark to Alexandria, Egypt. The members of the expedition spent a year in Egypt, visiting Suez and Mount Sinai. They left Suez in October 1762 and sailed to Yemen. In May 1763 they reached Mocha where Von Haven and Forrskal died from malaria. In August 1763 Baurenfeind and Berggren died, followed by Kramer in February 1764. Niebuhr was the only one left to continue the expedition. In 1764, he explored India, sailing from Bombay to Muscat, as well as Shiraz, Babylon, Baghdad, Mosul, and Aleppo. He spent some time in Persepolis in 1765 where he has made very detailed drawings and maps, which were used for more than a hundred years. In 1766, he explored Palestine before finally returning to Copenhagen on 20 November 1767, after a journey of seven years. When he returned to Copenhagen the Swedish government warmly welcomed him and paid the costs of engraving the plates to illustrate his accounts of the voyage. Both works are lavishly illustrated, having together 2 large maps of Yemen and 148 beautifully engraved maps, plans and views of all the regions Niebuhr visited. - The present set has both works printed on the same large watermarked paper (Strasbourg bend above VDL) and is only slightly trimmed, measuring 296 x 242 mm with the tranchefiles still visible (regular copies are printed on unwatermarked paper measuring 275 x 217 mm). Not even Tiele mentions the existence of copies on large paper. - Binding slightly rubbed on the sides and rebacked as noted; otherwise good. With a few occasional spots, the half-titles slightly thumbed and a few mm of minor browning in the upper margins; a very good large paper copy, only slightly trimmed. Howgego, to 1800, N24. Tiele, Bibl. 795f. Cf. Atabey 873f. Cox I, 237f. Gay 3589. Hamilton, Europe and the Arab world 48.
Folio. (188), (34), CCCCCXXXVI [= CCCCCXXXVIII; 538] pp. Title-page in red and black and separate title-page to index, both with woodcut border. Elaborately decorated calf, with image of the crucifixion on both panels. Blinrd-tooled spine. First and only Paris edition of "Historiae naturalis", with the annotations by Hermolaus Barbarus (1454-94), an Italian Renaissance scholar. His discussions of Pliny's "Naturalis Historia" was first published as "Castigationes Plinianae" in 1492, in which he made over 5000 corrections to the original text. Due to this work and other classical works he translated or edited he was considered a leader authority on Latin and Greek work on antiquity. The present copy was published by Jean Petit, in his days a leading bookseller in Paris, whose name and device are shown on the title-page with decorative woodcut border. The title-page to the index, here bound before the text, has the initials of the printer Nicolaus Sauetier. - The original text was by Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23-79), better known as Pliny the Elder. He was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian. - The "Naturalis Historia" is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to Pliny. He claims to be the only Roman ever to have undertaken such a work. It comprised 37 books in 10 volumes and covered over 20,000 facts on topics including the fields of botany, zoology, astronomy, geology and mineralogy as well as the exploitation of those resources. It remains a standard work for the Roman period and the advances in technology and understanding of natural phenomena at the time. Some technical advances he discusses are the only sources for those inventions, such as hushing in mining technology or the use of water mills for crushing or grinding corn. Much of what he wrote about has been confirmed by archaeology. ''We know from Pliny that there were important pearl fisheries in the Gulf [...] Pliny identifies Tylos (Bahrain) as a place famous for its pearls [... He] attests that pearls were the most highly rated valuable in Roman society, and that those from the Gulf were specially praised [...] The pearl related finds at the site of El-Dur indicate the site was integrated into the maritime trade routes linking the Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, India and South Arabia'' (Carter). Book 6 holds a chapter that gives the first detailed account of the regions around the Gulf, including what are now Qatar, the Emirates and Oman. - Not only is it virtually the only work which describes the work of artists of the time, and has it become an important reference work for the history of art, due to the wide range of topics, the referencing system and index it became a model for later encyclopaedias. - Panels shaved, affecting the decoration, spine cracked on the hinges. With manuscript ownership on title-page of the index. A good copy. Bird 1910. USTC (2 copies). Not in Adams, BMC French, Durling, Hunt, Wellcome.
Large 8vo (300 x 220 mm). 6 vols. bound as 3. With 250 numbered plates (image size 120 x 170 to 150 x 220 mm), including a tinted lithographed portrait of the artist, 6 tinted lithographed title-pages, 2 stone-engraved maps and 239 tinted and double-tinted lithographed and 2 chromolithographed views. Contemporary, richly gold-tooled reddish-brown morocco, side-stitched and oversewn, then sewn on 5 recessed cords, with a hollow back, 5 false bands on the spine, gold-tooled turn-ins, combed and curled marbled endpapers, headbands in red and yellow, gilt and gauffered edges. With thin paper guard leaves facing each plate. Second edition, with reduced illustrations but with more of them double-tinted or chromolithographed, of one of the most splendid and historically important visual records of the Middle East, after drawings by David Roberts (1796-1864) from the sketches he made from life during his travels through what is now Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Lebanon in 1838 and 1839. In Egypt he ventured up the Nile as far as the Nubian temples at Abu Simbel, near the present border with Sudan and travelled by camel through the Sinai to the extraordinary carved-rock buildings of Petra. These had been unknown to Europeans until Burckhardt discovered them in 1812 and 1813, so Roberts's views are among the earliest and are in many ways better than the few predecessors. In Lebanon he ventured as far as Baalbek, which had seen few European visitors before Egypt annexed it in 1832. Other sites he visited and drew include Cairo, Suez, Gaza, Jerusalem and Beirut. He was one of the first Europeans allowed to make drawings of the interior of mosques, so even in well-known cities these too opened a new world to European eyes. His views also provide a very detailed visual record of many sites that were afterward destroyed or disturbed. He drew them during the infancy of photography, before it reached the Middle East and long before it reached maturity there. His views of the modern cities also preserve records of both their architecture and their daily life and he shows spectacular landscapes in the mountains, around the Dead Sea and along the Nile and the Jordan. Roberts, born to a poor (Welsh?) family in Edinburgh, was apprenticed as a house painter, moved to London and worked his way up to paint sets for the Drury Lane Theatre and others. Thanks to patrons who appreciated his talents and hard work he was able to make the expensive and dangerous voyage through the Middle East. George Croly (in volumes 1-3) and William Brockedon (in volumes 4-6) provided explanatory and historical notes on the sites shown in Roberts's views. - Roberts's views were originally published in two separate works, issued in parts in the years 1842 to 1849 and often found together. One centred on the Holy Land, though also including views in other parts of the Middle East, while the other was devoted to Egypt and Nubia. The views in the former were made with only a single tint block and even the latter used fewer tint blocks than the present second edition and only one chromolithograph. The present edition, with sometimes very intricate double tints and two chromolithographs (with black and three tint blocks) is a masterpiece of tinted lithography. Since the lithographers used photographic reductions of the lithographic views of the first edition as an aid to their work, the book also pioneered the use of photography in graphic reproduction. The lithographed title-pages are dated 1855 except for those of vol. 3 (from the simultaneous New York issue, undated) and 6 (1856) but volumes 2-6 include plates dated 1856. The dates of the plates in all six volumes range from 16 April 1855 to 15 December 1856. - The title-page of volume 3 was intended for the simultaneous New York issue, but appears to have always been part of the present copy. In very good condition, with occasional light foxing, mostly on the backs of the plates, and with a faint marginal water stain in the lower outside corner of many plates in volumes 3 and 4, not approaching the printed image. The inside front hinge of the second volume as bound has separated from the book block and the bindings show some wear at the hinges and extremities, but they are otherwise also very good. 250 mostly tinted and double-tinted lithographs providing stunning early views of the Middle East, including Petra, Abu Simbel and the interiors of several mosques. Abbey, Travel 388 (lacking vols. 5-6). Blackmer 1432 (note). Gay 25. Hiler 205. Cf. Hamilton, Europe and the Arab world 66 (1842-49 ed.); Lipperheide, Lc 12 & Ma 27 (1842-49 ed.); Tooley 401f. (1842-49 ed.); not in Colas.
21 album leaves with 1 drawing mounted on each recto. Album: full-sheet leaves (oblong folio, 395 x 525 mm); drawings: oblong folio and oblong 4to. An album with 21 watercolour drawings on paper with views of sea coasts from the shore (240 x 310 mm to 295 x 465 mm), one with a 22nd watercolour drawing on the back with a similar view, and one with about 15 human figure drawings in graphite pencil on the back. All bear the artist's stamp on the front (Lugt 3703) and 4 are signed or initialled by the artist. Richly gold- and blind-tooled green goatskin morocco, sewn on 3 recessed cords (not aligned with the six flat raised bands on the spine), each board with a blind-tooled inner oval frame of interlaced abstracted leaves and vines, surrounded by a gold-tooled frame of similar decoration (oval inside and rectangular outside), surrounded by 2 frames of thick-thin fillets, the front board with the owner's initials in textura capitals in the centre: "A.L.", signed at the foot of the spine, "A. Giroux & C:" (last recorded in 1856), white watered silk endleaves (the paste-down in the form of a doublure). The whole in a protective folder lined with thick leather, with green goatskin morocco where it wraps around the 2 short ends, and chemical-marbled paper sides (black papier croise d'Annonay: cf. Wolfe XXI, 1-3: France, 1830s-50s), with remains of a green cloth tie on the flap. A richly gold- and blind-tooled album (ca. 1850/56) containing 22 excellent and detailed watercolour views of rocky sea coasts, all or nearly all in New Caledonia and Peru (plus 1 graphite pencil drawing of about 15 human figures), the coastal views made from the shore. All were executed by Osmond Romieux (1826-1908), a leading amateur artist who made them during his tours of duty as a French naval officer. At least 18 have a pencil note on the back identifying the location: 15 "Nouvelle Caledonie", 2 "Pérou" (drawings 18, 20) and 2 "Callao" in Peru (drawings 17, 18). We have found no location indicated on drawings 3 (with views on both sides), 8 and 19 (with figure drawings on the back). Most of the drawings were made from the sea shore, looking out over both the sea and the nearby coasts, nearly all with rocky cliffs or outcroppings and some with trees or other plants. Many were made along bays or inlets where one can see the coast on both sides and the water in one view. Some show fortifications or other buildings, a few show boats in the water or on the shore and several show people on the shore, all or nearly all in European dress. Drawings 2, 8, 15 and 17 are signed or initialled by the artist. - No drawing in the album bears a date, but the album shows no signs of other items having been removed, so the drawings probably date from before or soon after the album was manufactured. The album leaves are made of wove paper with no watermark, but A. Giroux & Cie is not recorded after 1856 and the binding style suggests the album is not much older. Most of the drawings are made on thick wove paper with no visible watermarks and with a rough surface texture much like many of today's watercolour papers. Drawing 4 is on thinner and smoother wove paper with no watermark visible and drawings 9 and 11 are on laid paper watermarked (in the centre of a half-sheet): grapes on a crowned shield (20 grapes plus stem, rendered naturalistically, with grapes arranged in an irregular pattern rather than a honeycomb and sometimes overlapping), about 118 x 70 mm (chainlines 26 mm apart). Unfortunately, the watermark literature does not cover this period well, but the crown is in the general style of those used much earlier for a fleur-de-lis on a crowned shield, such as Heawood 1822. Drawings 20 and 21 may be on the same stock as 9 and 11 but show no watermark, though 20 was made in Peru and the others in New Caledonia. Drawings 9, 20, 21 and probably 3 and 19 are executed on oblong 4to leaves; at least most of the others are on oblong folio leaves. Drawing 13 may be backed with smoother wove paper. - Prosper Halvor Henri Oscar Romieux, who used the first name Osmond, joined the French navy at Rochefort (less the 30 km from his native La Rochelle) in 1841 and passed his exams at the École Navale in 1843. He made his first tour of duty in Polynesia during the Franco-Tahitian War (1844-47), at least from 1845 aboard the ship "La Virginie". We find no record of Romieux or the ship visiting New Caledonia during this period, although it is "only" 4500 km from Tahiti. Romieux must have shown artistic skill from early childhood, for already on this first tour he made excellent watercolour drawings, and he continued to make watercolour views around the world until he retired from duty in 1891. He was made a chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1863 and later an officier. Other undated drawings also record him in New Caledonia and Peru (including Lima and Callao). He is documented in New Caledonia in 1880 and 1882, but the present drawings are unlikely to be that late, and we have found no date for his visit(s) to Peru. We have little record of Romieux's movements from 1848 to 1850, but if he left the South Pacific he soon returned, for he is recorded in Hong Kong in 1851 and the Philippines in 1852 (in 1851 he was an Enseigne on the ship "l'Algérie"). He must have left in 1852, however, for he is recorded in the Seychelles (in the Indian Ocean) in 1852 and Italy in 1853 and 1854. In this last year he was promoted to Lieutenant, but we have another gap in the records of his movements from that time to 1860. He may have made the present drawings during this period, for he set off for the Levant on the ship "Redoutable", apparently in or shortly before 1860, since he is regularly recorded in Syria, Lebanon, Greece, Algeria and Jerusalem from 1860 to 1864. He was promoted to Capitaine in 1867 and continued his travels, but since the present album was probably bound in or before 1856 we think it unlikely that he made the drawings after 1864. - Although the binding is signed by Giroux, the firm operated primarily as suppliers of artists' materials and Ramsden plausibly suggests that they "commissioned bindings by the best executants of the day". Alphonse Giroux established the firm by 1799, but his son Alphonse Gustave Giroux (1809-86) managed it from at least 1838 and the father died in 1848. - We have not identified the "A.L." who apparently acquired these watercolours and had the album made in the 1850s: Lugt lists several French collectors with those initials active at the time. One watercolour has a small corner torn off at the lower right, another is slightly frayed along the right edge and the one on thin wove paper is very slightly browned, but the watercolours are otherwise in very good condition. The binding may have been expertly rebacked, preserving the original backstrip, but so unobtrusively that one must wonder if the binding was originally made that way. It is further in very good condition and even the folder is olny slightly rubbed.A lovely and finely executed series of large watercolour drawings of the coasts of New Caledonia and Peru, probably made in the 1850s and mounted in a stunning gold- and blind-tooled contemporary album. For Romieux: Lugt 3703. For Giroux: Flety, Dictionnaire des relieurs francais p. 82; Ramsden, p. 94.
4to (225 x 264 mm). X, 42 pp. With 4 lithogr. folding plates. (And:) Beitraege [...] Zweites, Drittes, Viertes, Fünftes Heft. Systema Astronomiae Aegyptiacae Quadripartitum. Ibid., 1833. XXX, 445, (10) pp. (series titles and separate half-title for no. 2). With hand-coloured frontispiece and 10 large folding plates, lithographed throughout. Contemporary polished red morocco, spine, leading edges, inner dentelle and covers richly gilt and blind-tooled in the Romantic style. Glazed green endpapers; all edges goffered and gilt. Bound by the Leipzig master Anton Stumme with his label on the first flyleaf. A fine morocco volume comprising the first five of Seyffarth’s monographic "Contributions" to Egyptology (apparently all published at the time of binding; two more were to follow by 1840). While the first fascicle contains the earliest catalogue raisonnée of the substantial Berlin collection of papyri, fascicles 2-5 (published with continuous pagination) constitute a bold investigation into early Egyptian astronomy and its all-pervading cosmological cult. This section includes a hand-coloured frontispiece of astronomical animal forms and ten large folding plates, all lithographed, showing important pieces of archeological evidence: the Navicula astronomica (Paris), Zodiacus Tentyriticus (Paris), Zodiacus Taurinensis (Turin), Sarcophagus Sethi (London), Sarcophagus Ramsis (Paris), Monolithus Amosis (Paris), Mensa Isiaca (Rome), and a Papyrus funeralis formerly in the d'Hermand collection. The final part is an astronomical lexicon, a typographical masterpiece that fits more than 1300 lithographed hieroglyphs precisely into their letterpress explanations. - Seyffarth, an opponent of Champollion's, emigrated to the U.S. in 1855. His thousands of transcriptions and sketches are preserved in the Brooklyn Museum as the "Bibliotheca Aegyptiaca Manuscripta". - A luxury copy printed entirely on wove paper and bound in elaborate morocco with finely goffered edges (unusual for a secular binding of the time) by the Leipzig master Anton Wilhelm August Stumme (1804-67), who also worked for Robert Schumann. Minor wear to binding, occasional foxing as typical for wove paper. Coloured frontispiece browned evenly; largely insignificant gutter tears to four folding plates. A crisp, unused copy in a magnificent binding. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 229f.
Large 4to (195 x 268 mm). Title and 30 captioned plates, engraved throughout (image size ca 110 x 170 mm). Late 19th century half calf with gilt spine rules and 18th or early 19th c. giltstamped lozenge label on upper cover. Charming, rare suite of engravings showing the costumes of the Turks, including the Sultan and various courtiers of the Porte, Ottoman soldiers and janissaries, an Arabian preacher, a falconer, street salesmen, a porter smoking a long meerschaum pipe, and several Turkish ladies (one in surprisingly revealing attire). - Charles-Francois Silvestre (1667-1738) held the title of "Maître à dessiner du Roi" (Drawing Master to the King) and was in 1695 appointed art instructor to the young Dukes of Burgundy, Anjou and Berry, the grandsons of Louis XIV. The present suite, dedicated to Louis, Duke of Burgundy, reflects the orientalist fashion of its time but is also a highly original work of art demonstrating a vivid, flamboyant style and not apparently based on earlier illustrations. The title and 21 of the plates are signed in full with the Royal privilege: "F. Silvestre inv. et ex. C.P.R.", while eight are simply signed "S." and one ("Janissaire de la garde, Solac ou Pzyc") is not signed, though it is clearly executed in the same style as the others. Uncommon thus with 31 plates including the title: the copies listed by both Hiler and Colas, as well as that in the Gennadius Library at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, are oblong volumes containing only 30 plates including the title, on a total of 15 leaves (Colas: "titre compris [...] Ces planches sont tirées à deux sur la même feuille"), while the Lipperheide copy comprised a mere 22 plates including the title, making this the most complete set known. - Insignificant browning and fingerstaining, more pronounced in title but on the whole confied to the wide margins. Hiler 799; Colas 2744 (both listing 30 plates including title). Lipperheide Lb 25 (listing title and 21 plates).
Watercolour on a large sheet of paper (image size: 74.5 × 52 cm), signed at the foot right: "E. Tarenghi". Contemporary (?) gilt wooden frame (89.5 × 66 cm), behind plastic. Attractive watercolour painting by the Italian orientalist painter Enrico Tarenghi (1848-1938), it shows three bearded men with carpets and two poufs. One of them is clearly the seller, another is inspecting the wares and the third is sitting on the ground rolling up one of the carpets. In the background a wide river (generally assumed to be the Nile), a dromedary and dozens of palm trees. Tarenghi made extensive use of photography in his work and often used photographs as a template for the background. The present setting is found more often in his work, not only showing carpet sellers, but also merchants selling fruit. The carpet trade, however, seems to be one of his favourite subjects regardless of the background. The carpets allowed Tarenghi to show off his skills, with their intricate motives, textures, creases and folds. - Small waterstain and minor defects at the foot and a few other negligible blemishes, but otherwise in very good condition. For the artist: Thieme & Becker XXXII, p. 445.