Golf

Golf — marelibri

Folio (ca. 200 x 315 mm). Over 360 pp. with manuscript entries and 16 blank leaves. Brown ink on blueish watermarked laid paper. With 13 ink-drawn charts and sketches (8 on the logbook pages and 5 on separate thick album leaves). Period-style black half calf with original brown cloth boards; spine with gilt-lettered title "Log H.M.S. Cyclops". Overall an important, finely illustrated logbook, written in a legible hand. Historically significant manuscript logbook, containing a detailed record of the first attempt at laying a submarine telegraph cable to connect London with British India. The expedition took place from May 1859 (the Red Sea leg from Suez to Aden) to February 1860 (from Aden to the Khuriya-Muriya Islands, Muscat and Karachi). The two specially designed cable ships, Imperador and Imperatrix, were supported by HMS Cyclops, which surveyed the coastlines and reported on the depth and structure of the ocean floor. - The entries from February 1859 to May 1860, documenting the ship's Red Sea and Arabian Sea mission, span over 200 pages. We first find the Cyclops near Cape Ras al Hadd on the eastern coast of Oman, at the entrance to the Gulf of Oman: "Cape Ras al Hadd ... terminates in a low sandy spit at the head of which is a village and mud fort. There is an inlet about 4 miles to the northward of the cape, but inaccessible to large vessels. There is a heavy surf on the beach during northerly winds" (9 February 1859). The ship then plied in the Red and Arabian Seas between Egypt, Yemen and Oman, eventually finishing in Bombay. - During its expedition, the Cyclops visited and moored in Quseer and Zabardag Island (Egypt), Suakin (Sudan), Perim Island (Strait Bab-el-Mandeb, Yemen), the Hanish Islands (Yemen), Palinurus Shoal and Cape Fartak (Yemen), Al-Hallaniyah and Al-Qibliyah (Khuriya Muriya Islands, Oman), Ras Madrakah and Ras Al Hadd (Oman), Charna Island and Karachi (Pakistan). The logbook entries record the conducting of soundings and the laying of cable, along with quotidian ship activity. Brief entries touch on the death of crew members; discharging coal; punishing men for wrongdoings; maintenance of the ship; making notes of other ships in company; visits on board by local notables, etc. Six larger entries, occupying up to two pages of text, describe the topography, landmarks, soundings and economy of Karachi, Zabargad Island, and Muscat Cove, which latter harbour is said to be "formed by Muscat Island on the east and Ras Muscat on the West, it is one mile deep by half a mile wide with 12 fms at entrance, decreasing to 3 fathoms ahead of the town. It is defended by two ... batteries on the island, one on the height to the seat of town and two on Ras Muscat. They are all in a stay of decay. The entrance to the cove is difficult to make out when coming from the eastward ... The exports of Muscat are wheat, dried fish, dates and cattle, the imports being European and Indian manufactured goods, sugar, etc. The revenue is about £100,000. The Imaum's Palace faces the water, his army generally consists of from 10 to 12,000 men, and the fleet of 2 frigates, 2 corvettes, a transport and brig, the greater part of the Navy having been removed to Zanzibar, the Captains of these vessels being educated at Bombay or Calcutta. Supplies of all kind are cheap and plentiful. Boats may be hired thro' the medium of the Agent of the Indian Government for the shipment of coals" (26 November 1859). - Illustrated with eight well-executed ink-drawn charts, showing the tracks of Cyclops in the Red and Arabian Seas, as well as the harbours of Muscat Cove and other places. Five beautiful ink sketches show the city of Muscat, "Hallani Bluff from Addington Cove" (Al-Hallaniyah, the largest of the Khuriya Muriya Islands, Oman), Ras Fartak (Yemen), Karachi harbour, and Colombo. - Lightly armoured and laid with too little slack, the cable soon failed: indeed, the 1859 section had already broken down by the time the route was completed in 1860. Messages were passed over individual sections, but the entire cable never worked as a unit. Communication to India would not be established until the 1864 Persian Gulf cable was laid. The captain of the Cyclops, William Pullen (1813-87), was a noted British navigator and Arctic explorer who took part in John Franklin's search and in 1849 became the first European to sail along the north coast of Alaska from the Bering Strait to the Mackenzie River in Canada. - A final part of log, comprising some additional ca. 150 pp. (May 1860-May 1861), covers the Cyclops's survey of the south-eastern coast of Ceylon and her return voyage to England. Overall, an important content-rich source on the early history of the submarine telegraph cable around the Arabian Peninsula to British India.

[Soviet General Staff Maps] - Iran, Iraq, Levant 1:200,000.MareMagnum

General'nyí shtab. (Iran, Iraq, Levant 1:200,000). [Moscow, General Staff], 1963-1991.

A total of 350 topographic maps, colour-printed, ca. 52 x 47 cm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale. In Russian (Cyrillic). The Soviet Union's 1:200,000 General Staff map quadrangles showing Iran, Iraq and the countries of the Levant: Palestine and Israel, southern Lebanon, parts of Syria and Jordan. From the Russian series of maps produced during the Cold War, based on high-quality satellite imagery, but usually also ground reconnaissance. Nearly complete, only a few quadrangles missing along the south-western border regions and two lacunae on the very north-eastern fringe. Assembled continuously, the quadrangles would form an enormous map spanning nearly 14 x 9 metres!. - Products of a massive, clandestine cartographic project begun under Stalin and ultimately encompassing the entire globe, the Soviet General Staff maps are today noted for their extreme precision. Indeed, even in post-Soviet times they provide the most reliable mapping for many remoter parts of the world: "Soviet-era military maps were so good that when the United States first invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, American pilots relied on old Russian maps of Afghanistan. For almost a month after the United States began a bombing campaign to help oust the Taliban government, American pilots were guided by Russian maps dating back to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s" (Davies/Kent, p. xi). - Although the details of the cartographic programme evolved over the decades, its overall system and plan remained remarkably constant. "The basic quadrangle is the 1:1,000,000 sheet spanning 4° latitude by 6° longitude. The quadrangles are identified by lettered bands north from the equator and by numbered zones east from longitude 180° [...] Each 1:1,000,000 sheet is subdivided into four 1:500,000 sheets (from northwest to southeast), labeled [by] the first four letters of the Russian alphabet" (ibid., p. 19-21). "Printing such large-format plans in so many colors with near-perfect print registration itself testifies to the skill of the printers in the military map printing factories across the former Soviet Union. The quality of printing reflects the level of training and the reliability of humidity-control equipment and the electricity supply at the time" (ibid., p. 6f.). - The 1:200,000-scale maps are specifically labelled "Secret" or "For Offical Use". Indeed, all General Staff maps de facto constituted closely guarded military material, none of which became available in the West before the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. - Light traces of folds and occasional wrinkles and small edge flaws, but altogether in excellent condition. Cf. J. Davies / A. J. Kent, The Red Atlas (Chicago/London, 2017).

Inlibris · Autriche45 000,00 €

[Tarikh-i Hind-i gharbi].MareMagnum

Tarikh-i yeni dunya [History of the New World, or America and the Indies]. [Turkish or Ottoman Balkans, Nov./Dec. 1770 CE =] Sha'ban [11]84 H.

4to (146 x 211 mm). Ottoman Turkish manuscript. 284 ff. of polished laid paper. Black naskh with occasional red; 19 lines within red rules; gilt and illuminated sarlowh on first text page. Signed by the scribe Darwish 'Ali. Early 19th century English binding with blind-tooled spine and fore-edge flap in the oriental style. A complete 18th century manuscript of what is famously the first Ottoman history of America. Composed by an unidentified Turkish author in the 1580s, the work is also known as "Tarikh-i Hind-i gharbi" ("History of the West Indies") and "Hadis-i nev". It enjoyed great popularity throughout the 16th and 17th centuries and was printed by Ibrahim Müteferrika in 1730, making it the earliest book about the New World published in the Ottoman Empire. This text appears to be the principal source of information about the Americas circulating in the Ottoman Empire from the 16th to the 18th century. - Binding somewhat rubbed at extremeties; interior well preserved with wide margins. Provenance: from the library of Frederick North, Earl of Guilford (1766-1827), first British Governor of Ceylon, Philhellene and founder of the first university in modern Greece (his engraved bookplate on the front pastedown); annotated on the flyleaf: "A history of the new world, or America & the W. Indies, written in 1184 A.H.". Old French catalogue entry, clipped and mounted on lower pastedown. The son of Lord North, Prime Minister under George III, Frederick North had travelled widely throughout the Mediterranean, visiting not only Greece and Italy, but also Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire, including Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. He gifted his large personal collection of printed books and manuscripts to the Library of the university he created in Corfu. Counter to his wishes, after his death the books were transferred to his heir, George Holroyd, 2nd Earl of Sheffield (1802-76), who had the collection auctioned in London in seven sales held between 1828 and 1835; a substantial part was acquired by the British Museum and still rests in the British Library. - An important text, in a copy with important provenance. Cf. T. D. Goodrich, The Ottoman Turks and the New World (Wiesbaden 1990). The same, "Tarihi-i Hind-i Garbi: An Ottoman Book on the New World," in: Journal of the American Oriental Society 107.2 (April-June 1987), p. 317.

Inlibris · Autriche45 000,00 €

Abu Ma'shar Ja'far ibn Muhammad ibn 'Umar al-Balkhi (Albumasar).MareMagnum

Introductorium in astronomiam Albumasaris abalachi octo continens libros partiales. (Venice, Giacopo Penzio de Leucho for Melchiorre Sessa, 5 Sept. 1506).

4to (165 x 224 mm). (64) ff.; complete with final blank. With woodcut illustration on title, woodcut initials, 43 small woodcuts in the text (22 repeats), 2 diagrams, and printer's device on final leaf verso. - (Bound with) II: Albumasar de magnis coniunctionibus annorum revolutionibus ac eorum profectionibus octo continens tractatus. (Ibid., 31 May 1515). (94) ff. With woodcut illustration on title, woodcut initials, 270 woodcuts in the text, 2 diagrams, and printer's device on final leaf recto. Contemporary French full calf on four raised double bands. A humanist sammelband comprising two attractive, finely illustrated Venetian editions of key astrological works by the great Arab astronomer Abu Ma'shar, who furnished the West with Aristotelian thinking. These 12th-century Latin versions of Abu Ma'shar's immense introduction to astrology, "Kitab al-madkhal al-kabir 'ala 'ilm ahkam al-nujum" (translated by Hermann of Carintha), and of his book on planetary conjunctions, "Kitab al-qiranat" (translated by John of Seville; for both cf. GAL I, 221f.), were previously published only by Erhard Ratdolt at Augsburg in 1489. Both of Penzio's Venetian editions are rare; of the first, a single copy is known in the trade since 1952 (sold through us in 2017). - Of all the Arabic writers on astrology, the most imposing is Ja'far ibn Muhammad Abû Ma'shar (c. 787-886), known in the West as Albumasar. Born in Balkh (now Afghanistan), he travelled to Baghdad during the caliphate of al-Ma'mum (813-33) and there became the main rival of al-Kindi, the father of Arab philosophy, though principally he "devoted himself to the account and justification of astrology [...] He drew together into one great synthesis many ancient traditions Indian, Greek, and Iranian. The Greek influence consisted of the teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Theon. Yet he also drew on Syriac Neoplatonic sources and on al-Kindi for a general metaphysics" (Hackett, "Albumasar", in Gracia & Noone, eds., A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, p. 102). Abu Ma'shar was an important influence on such thinkers as Albert the Great and Roger Bacon, who commonly referred to him as the "auctor in astronomia", granting him the same status in astronomy that Aristotle enjoyed in philosophy. - Binding somewhat rubbed; extremities and spine professionally restored. From the library of the French theologian and scholar Nicolas Maillard (documented 1508-65), an admirer of Erasmus of Rotterdam, whom he knew and with whom he corresponded, with his autograph humanist ownership "Mallarii kai ton philon" at the top of the first title-page. 17th century ownership of the Barnabites of Annecy ("Collegii Annessiatensis congregationis Sancti Pauli") below the woodcut; a few 18th century bibliographical notes on the pastedowns. Later in the collection of Arthur Brölemann (1826-1904), bibliophile and president of the Tribunal de Commerce de Lyon, with his engraved bookplate on front pastedown. His library was dispersed by his great-granddaughter Blanche Bontoux (Mme. Étienne Mallet) in 1926. I: Edit 16, CNCE 822. Adams A 567. Gaselee, Early printed books in Corpus Christi Cambridge, 166. Essling I, 525. Isaac 12913. BM-STC Italian 345. DSB I, 35. Graesse I, 60. Caillet I, 154. The Heritage Library, Scientific Treasures, p. S, no. 31, and p. 30. Panzer VIII, 380, 344. - II: Edit 16, CNCE 823. Adams A 566. Isaac 12926. BM-STC Italian 345. DSB I, 36. Graesse I, 60. Houzeau/L. 3821. IA 102.834. Sander 215. Essling I, 449. Caillet I, 154. Honeyman Coll. 57. The Heritage Library, Scientific Treasures, p. S, no. 32 ("Augsburg" in error). OCLC 31479499.

Inlibris · Autriche45 000,00 €

Eccleston, John.MareMagnum

Jerusalem Photographic Album. Newark, NJ, 1865.

Large folio. 12 leaves (22 x 16 inches), each containing a large mounted albumen photograph (ca. 12 x 10 inches) with descriptive letterpress beneath. Original leather-backed marbled boards with gilt-lettered roan label on front cover and leaf of printed introductory text mounted to inside front board. Skilfully rebacked and recornered. Small, unobtrusive 19th century embossed library stamp at lower right blank corner of each mount, minor wear at board extremities and chipping at edge of front endpaper, else an unusually clean and nice copy, with the photographic plates in perfect condition. An extremely rare photographic work, unrecorded in the major scholarly studies of early photography in the Holy Land. - According to the introductory text, "In the winter of 1859 the King of Prussia sent an artist to the Holy Land to procure views for his portfolio. Having reached Jerusalem, whilst the Royal commission was being executed, I was so fortunate as to secure (through the courtesy of Right Reverend Samuel Gobat, of the Anglican and Prussian mission) fine impressions from the most valuable of these negatives [...] they are now published, at the request of many persons [...]". Eccleston was an Anglican minister in Newark, New Jersey. - A gilt frame surrounds each photograph, beneath which is the title of the plate and two columns of letterpress text within a decorative type-ornament border. The titles of the plates are: Garden of Gethsemane; Damascus Gate; Jew's Waling Place; Church of Holy Sepulchre; Mosk El-Aksa / Solomon's Bridge; Valley of the Son of Hinnom; St. Stephen's Gate; Golden Gate; Top View of Jerusalem; Bethany; Via Dolorosa and Ecce Homo Arch; Mount Moriah and the Mosque of Omar. - We have been unable to identify the photographer, as the work is unrecorded by the leading authorities on early photography in the Holy Land, and the photographs themselves do not appear in any of the other known photographic albums of the period. Both Eyal Onne, "Photographic Heritage of the Holy Land 1839-1914" (Manchester 1980), and Yeshayahu Nir, "The Bible and the Image" (Philadelphia 1985), record in considerable detail the early missions to the Holy Land and the photographers who either accompanied these missions or who were living in the Holy Land and were retained by the missions. In neither work is the king of Prussia's mission recorded, nor is "Jerusalem Photographic Album" recorded in either bibliography of early photographic works on the Holy Land. Similarly, the recent book, "Revealing the Holy Land: The Photographic Exploration of Palestine" by Kathleen Stewart Howe (1997) records neither Eccleston's book nor these photographs. - Though seemingly unknown to scholars working in the field, two copies of Eccleston's book are indeed known: the NUC and RLIN both record one copy, at Yale, and OCLC locates a second copy at the University of Texas. Our copy was given by Eccleston, probably soon after publication, to his local library company; in the 1880s the library company was absorbed by a newly-created public library, from which it was purchased.

Inlibris · Autriche45 000,00 €

Honorius of Autun (Honorius Augustodunensis).MareMagnum

De imagine mundi. [Nuremberg, Anton Koberger, 1472].

Folio (310 x 220 mm). (46) ff., one final blank. Rubricated in red throughout and about half of the spaces left for initials filled in red by hand. 19th century red sheepskin, marbled sides. First edition of the popular "Imago mundi" of Honorius Augustodunensis (1080-1154), an incunabular encyclopaedia of popular cosmology and geography combined with a chronicle of world history, containing references to Arabia, Syria, Palestine, and the Saracens and thus providing one of the earliest mentions of Arabia ever printed. The monk Honorius takes the river Nile as the boundary between Africa and Asia (naming the latter continent in its entirety "India"). Arabia is described in the subsection on Mesopotamia. The description of this country, found along the Tigris and the Euphrates, also includes an account of the Kingdom of Sheba, home of the Queen of Sheba, and is said to be inhabited by the Moabites, Syrians, Saracens and others. After Mesopotamia we find Syria, including Phoenicia, which is followed by sections on Palestine and Egypt. - The "Imago mundi", which by scholarly consent was not published after 5 February 1473, exemplified the picture of Africa and the Orient prevalent in the West ca. 1100, which were perceived as lands full of marvels. It is one of the five earliest books printed by the great and prolific Nuremberg printer Anton Koberger. - Binding slightly rubbed; a few early manuscript annotations by a near-contemporary humanist in the margins. From the library of the Frankfurt physician Georg Franz Burkhard Kloß (1787-1854), also a noted historian of freemasonry, with his bookplate on pastedown; additional bookplate of Jean R. Perrette. Lacking the second of the two last blank leaves. A few wormholes, a couple of leaves attached to stubs, but otherwise in very good condition. Hain 8800. Goff H-323. GW 12942. BMC II, 411. Proctor 1974. Panzer II, 234.342. ISTC IH00323000. Not in Atabey or Blackmer.

Inlibris · Autriche45 000,00 €

Kirmani, Mirza Muhammad Karim Khan.MareMagnum

Two treatises on astronomy: Khulasa al-taqwim (Summary of the Calendar) and Risala al-Mizan (A Letter on Balance). Qajar Iran, [July/August 1856 CE =] Dhu'l-Qa'da 1270 H.

8vo (145 x 204 mm). Two treatises bound together: the first in Persian with occasional captions in Arabic, the second in Arabic. Manuscript on polished paper. 45 ff., 18-22 lines. Nastaliq and naskh script in black and red, written space ruled in red and blue, with numerous charts in red, blue, and black and chart headers in blue woodblock print. Folio 10 features moveable slips to complement a chart. 19th century full leather over wooden boards, covers decorated with lacquered gold leaf and illustrated with an astrolabe quadrant; top edge of upper cover recessed at the centre; a flower-shaped inlay to the upper cover is lost. Finely rendered and beautifully bound work on astronomy and timekeeping by Haji Mirza Muhammad Karim Khan-i-Kirmani (1810-73). Karmani was a Shaykhi-Shia scholar, a distant cousin to Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar (1769-1834), and a 19th century polymath with mastery of a whole field of Islamic and philosophical sciences, including alchemy, medicine, optics and music. - The first treatise presented here is "Khulasa al-taqwim", a calendar summary in the form of tables for ikhtiyarat, or selections: it thus guides the reader through the selection of auspicious moments in a given day, the station of the moon and the zodiac in the heavens, and describes the solar and lunar calendars, the hours of the day and night, and knowledge of horoscopes. - The second is "Risala al-Mizan", which focuses on the use and construction of astrolabes. Karmani had a particularly keen interest in the engineering behind the astrolabe, a distinctly Muslim invention which is perhaps the greatest technical triumph of the mediaeval world. Indeed, Karmani went on to invent his own version of the astrolabe. Both calendrical knowledge and astrolabe engineering require keen mathematical and geometric knowledge, the study of which is aided by the numerous and often complex charts made available to the reader throughout. One such chart features two movable slips, still fully intact and functional, which practitioners may slide up and down to match up with the chart and aid their calculations. The binding on this volume is particularly striking, as it is illustrated with diagrams of astrolabe quadrants on a field of glittering copper leaf. - Light wear to covers, slightly delicate binding. A well-preserved and uncommonly early copy of Kirmani's astronomical writings. The only comparable manuscript copy to have appeared on the market is a later specimen in a very similar binding, dating from 1312 H/1895 CE, which sold at Christie's (Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Sale, 27 April 2017, lot 16), commanding £21,250.

Inlibris · Autriche45 000,00 €

Mesue the Younger (Masawaih Al-Mardini).MareMagnum

Opus quibuslibet aromatariis: necessariu[m]. Mesue in vulgare rescripto. Primo che se rechercha allarte della aromataria como se conosseno le medicine simplice & composte li quattro canone p[er] arte in vulgare declarate alla antidotario: li dubie al configere qlle resolute. [Naples or Venice, ca 1500?].

4to (145 x 198 mm). (34) ff. Half calf over marbled overs (ca. 1900) with gold-tooled red label to gilt spine. All edges sprinkled red. Almost unobtainably rare first edition of this digest of medical prescriptions, taken from the works of the highly-regarded Arabic physician Mesue the Younger (also known as Masawaih al-Mardini), including "a kind of general manual for apothecaries and perfumers" (Duveen). All recipes are in Italian, while the main title and the headings are in Latin. Bibliographers are not agreed on the book's place or date of publication: GW locates it merely in Italy, ca. 1495, whereas Copinger believes it was printed in Venice, by an unidentified printer, in or around 1500. The British Museum Short-Title Catalogue suggests Sigismund Mayr in Naples as the printer and 1510 as possible year of publication, while the British Library's catalogue now appears to prefer Venice and 1505 as tentative place and year. Klebs notes that the collection constitutes a "rifacimento" of the Italian edition of Mesue's "Opera medicinalia", published in Venice on 12 December 1493. - Contemporary ink ownership to title-page. A restored tear in the final leaf (not affecting the text), some brown specks on the title-page and an insignificant waterstain along the lower edge of the final gathering, but altogether in excellent condition. Rebound in a pretty half-calf binding around the turn of the century. Only two copies in libraries internationally (British Library and Univ. of Wisconsin, formerly the Duveen copy). That in the British Library is incomplete, lacking the final leaf (falsely described by Copinger as having a final blank leaf, which is in fact the endpaper). Copinger 4011. GW M23031. Klebs 228 (note). Proctor 7427. ISTC im00521400. USTC 842290. BM-STC Italian 739. Duveen 651. Edit 16, CNCE 50479.

Inlibris · Autriche45 000,00 €

Robertson, William.MareMagnum

[Binding title:] Egypt & Nubia. Cairo [and elsewhere in Egypt and Nubia], 1838-1839.

Double Crown folio (48 x 36.5 cm). [37] ff. including title-leaf and 7 blanks, plus 16 loosely inserted ff. Album containing 42 pencil and other drawings (a few partly coloured) and 3 squeezes, some on the album leaves and some loosely inserted, mostly of ancient Egyptian and Nubian architecture, sculpture, bas-reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions, but also with a few botanical drawings and landscapes with buildings. Most have English-language captions in brown ink and are signed and dated 1838 to 1839. New black half morocco, on recessed cords, title and double fillets in gold on spine, using mid-19th-century marbled paper for the sides (blue-green Spanish-marble with black and white veins). An album of drawings (and squeezes of bas reliefs) made by William Robertson on a journey from Cairo in December 1838 down the Nile into Nubia, reaching as far south as the present-day Egyptian-Sudanese border region, including the temples of Abu Simbel, in January 1839, then returning via Philae, Karnak and other sites to Thebes in February 1839. They give very detailed views of numerous buildings, sculptures, bas-reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions, as well as more distant views of landscapes with buildings and three botanical drawings. While Robertson made most of his drawings on site, he drew the Temple at Luxor after a drawing by Achille Émile Prisse d'Avennes (1807-1879) who began exploring and drawing the ancient Egyptian sites in 1836 and published many of his drawings in 1847. The squeezes of bas-reliefs are of special interest, for they preserve a very precise record of the original with little influence from personal interpretation: the paper was wetted, pressed into the relief and allowed to dry. In addition to the three clear squeezes, a couple of the drawings also seem to have been made on flattened squeezes (some of those that survive as squeezes also have some lines drawn over them them). Since many of the ancient Egyptian sites have been looted and damaged over the years, these early drawings and squeezes provide an important record of what was there in 1838/39 and how it was situated, before the first photographs were made. The building of the old Aswan dam in 1902 caused frequent flooding and damage at the site of Philae, now an island, and most of its treasures were removed before completion of the new Aswan dam in 1970. The album has no true title-page, but the leaf before the first drawing has a slip pasted to it giving the name of the artist, dated from Cairo, December 1838. We have not identified the artist. The clergyman and historian William Robertson and his son of the same name died before 1838 and the archaeologist William Robertson Smith was not born until 1846. Thieme & Becker notes two artists named William Robertson, active two or three decades before and after the present drawings, but provides so little information that we cannot link them to either. He may possibly be the Irish-born London architect William Robertson (1770-1850), who took an early interest in Egyptian revival, but he would have been nearly seventy when these drawings were made. The loosely inserted drawings and squeezes are made on at least 8 different paper stocks, wove and laid, one of the wove stocks machine-made (the "watermark" left by the papermaking machine's belt seam appears in one sheet). A few of the original album leaves are now detached and may have been removed by the artist himself. The squeezes have inevitably been flattened in the album, but they still show the contours of the original bas-reliefs very clearly. One inserted drawing is severely foxed and one inserted floor plan is rather dirty, but in general the drawings are in very good condition. A detailed graphic record of ancient Egyptian art, architecture and hieroglyphic inscriptions, made before many of the worst depredations.

Inlibris · Autriche45 000,00 €

Salzmann, Auguste.MareMagnum

Jérusalem. Etude et reproduction photographique des monuments de la ville sainte depuis l'époque judaïque jusqu'à nos jours. Planches. Paris, Gide & Baudry, 1856.

Folio (335 x 432 mm). 3 ff. of letterpress matter (half-title, title and list of plates). With 40 mounted calotypes. Contemporary marbled half morocco on five raised bands with giltstamped spine title; marbled endpapers. Second, "better known" (Parr/Badger) edition of this pioneering work, first published in 1854: only the plate volume with the 40 magnificent calotypes, wanting the separately published 90 pages of text. - Wishing to support L. F. J. Caignant de Saulcy in the controversy concerning the dating of the wall of Jerusalem that followed his journey to the Dead Sea, Auguste Salzmann set out for the Holy Land on 12 December 1853. With the help of his assistant Durheim, he prepared some two hundred waxed-paper negatives of the Jerusalem monuments during his four-month stay. While his findings were first published in a monumental volume in 1854 (the copy of the Duke de Luynes commanded 463,500 Euros at Sotheby's Paris in 2013), the present reduced edition, with prints by Blanquart-Evrard, is better known. "It was an expensive book, a livraison, or fasicle of three prints costing 24 gold francs. A single print was 10 francs [...] Salzmann was acutely attentive to both patina and pattern in attempting to define the architectural strata of a city in which building was built upon building, thus leaving a vertical record of the various cultures that had occupied the city and left their remains on the foundations built by earlier conquerors [...] Salzmann himself described his pictures as having 'a conclusive brutality', but to modern eyes their poetic aspect seems paramount. It would appear that Salzmann was at one and the same time both expert and layman, dispassionate observer and enthusiast. His pictures have this dual quality, flickering rapidly between documentary and poetry. This, one might suggest, is the ideal goal for any photographer". - Binding slightly rubbed and chafed in places. Marginal foxing throughout, affecting only a few photographs; insignificant waterstain to edge; old ownerships erased from title, leaving slight traces. Parr/Badger, The Photobook I, 25. Tobler 181f. Röhricht 440f. Baier, Geschichte der Fotografie 452f. Gernsheim, History of Photography 186. Witkin/London, Photograph Collector's Guide 86f.

Inlibris · Autriche45 000,00 €

Stirling, Walter Francis.MareMagnum

"Arab Types". Album of Arabian portrait photographs. Syria, ca. 1918.

8vo. 15 black and white photographs captioned in white, plus one repeat in a smaller print. Original board album, acquired from "M. Arthur, Beyrouth". Paper label to upper cover: "Arab Types. Syria". Small but fascinating collection of portrait photographs showing Arabian nobles as well as commoners, all captioned and the subject often identified by name and tribe. The photos, many of which are executed as highly expressive profile studies, were taken and assembled by Lt. Col. Walter Francis Stirling (1880-1958), Chief of Staff to T. E. Lawrence. While the present photographs were taken during his time with Lawrence, whom Stirling revered, it is not his British comrades but rather the striking features of the sheikhs and bedouins on which this collection is focused. Among the images are "Sheik Gawaileh of Nejd, one of Lawrence's Bodyguard", and "Sheikh Hamondi, Friend of Lawrence"; others are more ominously identified as "Yezidi Shepherd, Devil worshipper" or "Bad type of Hadadiyim Tribesman". Of many noble tribesmen here depicted, such as Fauraz ibn Sha'laan, Emir of the Ruwalla, or Sheikh Daham al-Hadi, Paramount Sheikh of the Shammar tribe, these probably constitute the only photographic record. - Stirling was trained at Sandhurst and served in the Transvaal operation during the Boer War before being seconded to the Egyptian Army in 1906. He spent five years patrolling with an Arab battalion on the Eritrean and Abyssinian borders. Throughout WWI he served at Gallipoli and the Palestinian campaign until he was appointed chief staff officer to Lawrence of Arabia, who called him "Stirling the imperturbable". In 1937, Stirling would reflect on his famous wartime comrade: "From then [early 1918] throughout the final phase of the Arab revolt on till the capture of Damascus, I worked, travelled, and fought alongside Lawrence [...] We sensed that we were serving with a man immeasurably our superior [...] In my considered opinion, Lawrence was the greatest genius whom England has produced in the last two centuries [...] If ever a genius, a scholar, an artist, and an imp of Shaitan were rolled into one personality, it was Lawrence." In 1919 Stirling became advisor to Emir Feisal and Deputy Political Officer in Cairo, then acting governor of Sinai and Governor of the Jaffa district in Palestine before moving to Albania in 1923 to take up a position advising and assisting in the reorganisation of the Albanian Ministry of the Interior.

Inlibris · Autriche45 000,00 €

Teixeira, Pedro, [Mir Khwand and Turan Shah].MareMagnum

Relaciones de Pedro Teixeira d'el origen descendencia y succession de los reyes de Persia, y de Harmuz, y de un viage hecho por el mismo autor dende la India Oriental hasta Italia por tierra. Antwerp, Hieronymus Verdussen, 1610.

8vo. (8), 384, (8), 115 [but: 215], (17) pp. With a woodcut on title-page, a woodcut initial and some woodcut tailpieces. 17th century marbled calf with gilt label to richly gilt spine, red edges. First edition of a "history of the kings of Persia compiled from the Persian histories of Mir Khwand and Turan Shah" (Howgego), in the original Spanish, by the Portuguese merchant and adventurer Pedro Teixeira (1563-1645?). It is one of the earliest European sources to mention Qatar, relating to the pearl fishery in the region: "The pearl fishery at Bahren begins some years in June, but generally in July, an lasts all that month and August … They generally go a fishing to Katar, a port on the coast of Arabia, 10 leagues to the southward of the Island Bahren. As soon an oyster is brought up, they open it, and take out the pearl. The pearls of this sea surpass all others in goodness and weight…" (English translation). The work is divided into three parts. The first, which is the largest, deals with the kings of Persia. It is a summarized translation of the voluminous Rawzat al-Safa by the Persian historian Mir Khwand (ca. 1434-1498), and is probably the first translation of the text into an European language. The second part is a translation of the Ayyibud emir Turan Shah's (d. 1180) chronicle of the kings of Hormuz, a text which is today only extant in translations. Though Teixeira's adventures started in 1586, he reached Hormuz in 1593, where he resided for several years to study its history. Both parts contain a chronological account of the kings, but also provide a more general history of the area. The last and third part contains an account of Teixeira's later travels from India to Italy in 1600-01 and 1604-05, visiting China, Mexico and the Middle East. In his preface Teixeira states that he originally wrote the work in Portuguese, but that it was translated into Spanish to appeal to a wider audience. The work appeared in a French translation in 1681, and extracts appeared in an English translation appeared in 1711, followed by a translation of the full text in 1715. - Binding slightly rubbed and with a small defect to upper spine. Slightly browned, otherwise immaculate copy in its first binding. Howgego, to 1800, T19. Maggs Bros., Spanish books 1014a. Not in Blackmer.

Inlibris · Autriche45 000,00 €

Vanderbilt, William Kissam.MareMagnum

Hippodrome de Carrieres-sous-Poissy, Seine et Oise, appartenant a Mr. Vanderbilt W. K. Paris, Ch[arles] Robin, 1903-4-11.

Large hand-coloured four-sheet plan. Pen and ink, graphite and watercolour on paper laid on canvas. Framed and glazed. Dimensions: app. 90 x 170 cm (sheet); 105 x 205 cm (frame). Large manuscript plan in beautiful colour; a unique witness to Vanderbilt's passion and ambitions. A member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family, William Kissam (1849-1920) managed railroads and was also a horse breeder. He was one of the founders of The Jockey Club and the owner of a successful racing stable. In 1896, Vanderbilt built the American Horse Exchange at 50th Street (Manhattan). In World War II, the United States liberty ship SS William K. Vanderbilt was named in his honour. - This impressive plan represents the horse-racing stable and track at the chateau, which Vanderbilt built in 1906, with the help of Henri Guillaume and Pierre Sardou, architects. He purchased in 1903 the land in an area of Poissy called Les Gresillons, 20 miles outside Paris. At the time, he ran a breeding operation in Deauville, making the location, also called "Carrieres-sous-Poissy", particularly convenient since it is on the way from Paris to Deauville. The hippodrome comprised three oval tracks, the outer of which measured 2400 metres, as well as a straight track. A long wall separated the racing areas from the Chateau St-Louis where the Vanderbilts lived, called the Chemin Plat, now known as Avenue Vanderbilt. With the beginning of World War I, the racing stables were shut down and eventually sold. The Chateau St. Louis is now the corporate headquarters for a local quarry, which spreads over the land previously occupied by the hippodrome. As of today, only the residential building known as "Chateau Grésillons" still stands and is currently being restored. - Provenance: Ralph Esmerian (New York jeweler).

Inlibris · Autriche45 000,00 €

[Biblia polyglotta - Psalmi].MareMagnum

Psalterium Hebreum, Grecu[m], Arabicu[m], & Chaldaicu[m], cu[m] tribus latinis i[n]terp[re]tat[ion]ibus & glossis. Genoa, Pietro Paulo Porro, 1516.

Folio (binding 250 x 335 mm, inner book 236 x 327 mm). 200 leaves, complete. Title printed in red and black within woodcut arabesque border, printer's device on final leaf. With parallel text in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Arabic and Chaldaean (in their respective types), 4 columns to a page, 41 lines. 13 woodcut floriated initials (5 Latin, 4 Hebrew, 2 Greek and 2 Arabic). Rebound in near contemporary brown calf, carefully restored, edges and corners repaired, spine fully rebacked in seven compartments with modern gilt title and date. First edition. - The first polyglot edition of any part of the Bible, and also the first polyglot work ever published. It is of the utmost importance in several further respects, constituting the second book printed in Arabic from movable type (following Gregorio de Gregorii's "Kitab salat as-sawa'i", a Horologion for the Lebanese Melchites, printed in 1514), as well as the earliest Arabic printing of any portion of the Bible. It also contains the first edition of the Aramaic text of the Psalter and offers for the first time Kabbalistic texts from the Zohar. Furthermore, Giustiniani’s commentary provides the first substantial biographical reference to Columbus, and is thus noted as an Americanum. - The learned Dominican Agostino Giustiniani (1470-1536) was Bishop of Nebbio in Corsica from 1514 and later became the first Professor of Arabic and Hebrew at Paris. On his death he bequeathed his extensive library to the state of Genoa. He edited, supervised and financed the present edition and also wrote the commentary. - His book is the first multilingual edition of any part of the Bible. Aldus Manutius had planned a Psalter in three languages as early as the late 15th century, but his project was not realised. Printed in eight parallel columns on double pages, Giustiniani’s work comprises the text in Hebrew, a literal Latin translation thereof, the Latin Vulgate, the Greek Septuagint, Arabic, Aramaic (Chaldee), a literal Latin translation from the Aramaic, and scholia in the same languages. While Giustiniani aimed to edit the entire Bibel in this form, no further sections were published. He described his difficulties in selling the edition in his History of Genoa (1537), recording an edition size of 2,000 paper copies and 50 copies on vellum. - Giustiniani’s extensive commentary includes a long note to Ps. 19:4 ("et in fines orbis omnia verba eorum"; C7r-D1r), about the Genoese Christopher Columbus, who had died in 1506, containing previously unpublished information on his second voyage: "In this interesting sketch of the life and voyages of his fellow-townsman, Bishop Giustiniani gives an interesting account of the discovery of the new world, and states some facts not mentioned elsewhere" (Sabin). - This edition is also the only book printed at Genoa in the 16th century. The Milanese printer Pietro Paulo Porro maintained a press at Turin with his brother Galeazzo. Giustiniani summoned Porro to Genoa especially for the production of this edition, and had set up a press in the house of his brother Nicolo Giustiniani Paulo. The types were designed and cut for this edition under Porro’s direction. - Mild browning throughout, with some occasional waterstaining (more pronounced near beginning). Adams B 1370. Darlow/Moule 1411, 1634 & 2401. Smitskamp, PO, 236. Alden-Landis 516/4. Harrisse, BAV no. 88 (pp. 154-158). Sabin 66468. Sander 5957. G. Roper, Early Arabic Printing in Europe, in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution. A Cross-Cultural Encounter (Westhofen 2002), pp. 129-150, at p. 132, with colour ill. IV. StCB 25. Vinograd Genoa 1.

Inlibris · Autriche48 000,00 €

Geber (Jabir Ibn Hayyan).MareMagnum

(De alchemia). In hoc volumine de alchemia continentur haec. Gebri Arabis, philosophi solertissimi, rerumq[ue] naturalium, praecipue metallicarum peritissimi [...]. Nuremberg, Johann Petreius, 1541.

4to (165 x 213 mm). (20), 373 (but: 371), (5) pp. With 16 woodcut illustrations in the text. Contemporary full vellum with handwritten spine title. The rare first edition of this extremely important and early collection of alchemical writings, which unites several first printings of works previously circulated only as manuscripts. This is first edition to call Geber an "Arab", the first to use "Summa perfectionis magisterii" on the title-page, and also the first printing of the famous "Smaragdine Table" of Hermes Trismegistus. - "De Alchemia and the other works of the Geber corpus were of the greatest influence on Western chemistry, and whether they be translations or elaborations, they represent the amount of Arabic chemical knowledge made available to Latin reading people toward the end of the thirteenth century [...] they represent the best Latin knowledge on chemistry in that period" (Sarton). - The present collection, arranged by Chrysogonus Polydorus, contains four treatises by Geber: 1. Summa perfectionis; 2. Liber de investigatione perfectionis (the earliest description of the preparation of nitric acid and aqua regia); 3. Liber de inventione veritatis sive perfectionis; 4. Liber fornacum (a practical text on chemical operations). It also contains the following texts, of which at least four are printed for the first time: 5. Roger Bacon's Speculum Alchemiae (the original text from which the 1597 English "Mirror of Alchemy" edition was made); 6. Richard of Wendover's Correctorium Alchemiae; 7. Rosarius minor, de Alchemia, by an unknown author; 8. Khalid ibn Yazid's Liber Secretorum Alchemiae; 9. Hermes Trismegistus' Tabula Smaragdina; 10. Hortolanus' commentary on the Tabula. Illustrated with 16 fine woodcuts of alchemical apparatus and alchemists at work. - A complete copy in good condition showing light browning to paper, with wide margins containing extremely extensive early marginal annotations throughout. Stains to outer margin of last several leaves. A tear to the gutter of leaf c2 professionally repaired; old vellum repair to upper cover. A good copy. While the second edition of 1545, also very rare, has made a few appearances on the market, this first edition is extremely scarce. VD 16, J 15. Ferguson I, 18 & 301. Sarton II, 1044. Lamoen, Hermes Trismegistus (Amsterdam 1990), no. 70. Brüning I, 220. Darmstaedter, Geber 7. Duveen 11. Mellon Collection (Alchemy and the Occult, Yale 1968) I, 10 (note). Cf. Hoover 445 (1545 edition only). Not in Caillet or Rosenthal.

Inlibris · Autriche48 000,00 €

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