[Moroccan Mission to Vienna].MareMagnum
1783Engraving with caption in German and Arabic. 39:45 cm. The Moroccan envoy Mohammed Ben Abdul visited Vienna in 1783 to seal a friendship treaty and trade agreement. He was welcomed at the Hofburg by Emperor Joseph II on February 28. The engraving depicts the reception, with the High Chamberlain Prince Orsini-Rosenberg leading the envoy (holding a writ in his hand) and his companions before the Emperor, who receives them standing. Next to the Emperor are the interpreter von Bihn, the Vice-Chancellor Graf Cobenzl, and another high state official. The publication of this engraving was announced in the "Wiener Zeitung" on 26 April 1783. - Very rare. Catalogue "Hieronymus Löschenkohl", Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, 1959, no. 46a.
19448vo. XIII, (1), 558 pp. With 105 photo illustrations, 91 maps and text-figures (some folding), and 2 folded full-colour maps in back cover pocket. Original giltstamped green cloth. Geographical Handbooks Series (for official use only) B.R. 522 (Restricted). In-depth, profusely illustrated discussion of the Congo region. Produced during WWII for use of the Naval Intelligence Division, "to provide, for the use of Commanding Officers, information in a comprehensive and convenient form about contries which they may be called upon to visit, not only in war but in peace-time". The book's contents are, "however, by no means confined to matters of purely naval interest. For many purposes (e.g. history, administration, resources, communications, etc.) countries must necessarily be treated as a whole, and no attempt is made to limit their treatment exclusively to coastal zones" (1942 preface). - Spine and covers faded; edges and spine bronwstained. From the library of the English linguist Malcolm Guthrie (1903-72), arguably one of the most important Bantu scholars of his century, with his ms. ownership to flyleaf. His magnum opus, "Comparative Bantu", appeared in four volumes between 1967 and 1971.
17364to (27 x 22 cm). (4), XXIV, 412 pp. With 1 engraved map. Contemporary sprinkled leather with 5 raised bands and giding to spine. Rare second edition of this work on Armenian history, geography and literature. "Contains a chronological list of Armenian kings and patriarchs. According to Talbot Reed, 'History of old English foundries' (p. 68) the first Armenian type in England was that presented by Dr Fell to Oxford in 1667. In 1736 Calson cut a neat Armenian (pica) for the publication of the above edition of Movses Xorenac'i. These were the only founts in England before 1820" (Nersessian). "Rare and highly prized. The geographical section first appeared in in Armenian in Amsterdam in 1668, 12mo. and the Armenian history (very flawed) in Amsterdam in 1695, sm.-8vo" (cf. Ebert). - In parallel Armenian-Latin text throughout. 2 leaves with open tears to margins (affecting text on Hh1). Head shows insignificant worming, otherwise a very well-preserved binding. Nersessian 123. Voskanian 433. Graesse IV, 614. Ebert 14457. OCLC 79557739.
1860Large 8vo. 3 vols. (instead of 5). I: (4), 328 pp. II: (4), 245, (1) pp., last blank f. IV.1: (8), 218 pp. 58 pp. 78 pp. Contemporary half calf. Islamic history of the world from creation to the Ottoman Empire. - Wants vols. III and IV.2. Babinger, p. 124.
19008vo. Pt. 1 (of 2) only. XXIV, 170 pp. With folding engraved map. Contemporary blue wrappers. Probably a pirated version of the first German edition (Hamburg, Villaume); translated from the English "Copies of original letters from the Army of General Bonaparte in Egypt". Also published in French ("Correspondence interceptée de Bonaparte et de son armée en Egypte"). The map shows the Nile delta from Giza to the Mediterranean estuary. - Untrimmed copy; some defects to spine. Ibrahim-Hilmy 245. Cf. Gay 1990. Not in Kainbacher.
18378vo. Portrait frontispiece, engraved title-page, (4), 434 pp. With 1 engr. medaillon (averse and reverse) in the text. Contemporary red half calf with label to gilt spine. Edges in gilt. Fourth edition; the second one in 24 languages. Prayers "for all the hours of the day" by the Armenian Patriarch Nerses IV. (1102-1173). - Clean copy with stamped exlibris on t. p. Brunet IV, 859. Nersessian 510. OCLC 799387339.
18228vo. XVI, 390, VI pp. Contemporary marbled half calf with label to gilt spine. First edition of Oberleitner's linguistic course. The orientalist and theologian at the Benedictine "Schottenstift" was Professor of Arabic, Syrian, and Chaldaic Languages and Exegesis at the University of Vienna. "Oberleitner's independent editing of the 'Fundamenta' constitutes an important achievement" (cf. ÖBL). The Viennese printer Schmid specialized in Arabic, Persian, and Syrian works, and his was the only printing shop in Austria that could handle such texts. Aboussouan 693. Mayer II, 145. ÖBL VII, 188. Script. Ord. S. Benedicti 324, II. Wurzbach XX, 455. Brunet IV, 143. Graesse V, 1.
17088vo. XX, III-VIII, XI-XIV, (4), 391, (21) pp. Contemp panelled calf with giltstamped red label to gilt spine; leading edges gilt. Edges sprinkled in red. First edition of the author's most famous work. The orientalist Simon Ockley (1678-1720) was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge. He became fellow of Jesus College and vicar of Swavesey, and in 1711 was chosen Arabic professor of the university. His "'History of the Saracens' long enjoyed a great reputation; unfortunately Ockley took as his main authority a MS. in the Bodleian of Pseudo-Wakidi's 'Futúh al-Shám', which is rather historical romance than history. He also translated from the Arabic the Second Book of Esdras" (Enc. Brit.). A second volume appeared in 1718. - This copy includes 2 slightly different versions of the dedication to Henry Aldrich: the second, omitting his designation as 'One of Her Majesty's Chaplain in Ordinary', and containing other changes, is inserted in the preface. - Old ms. dates on t. p. Binding worn. Blackmer 1216. Gay 98. NYPL Arabia coll. 33. Diba Collection p. 209. OCLC 13745389. Cf. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula (later editions). Wilson 161 (ed. 1718). Brunet IV, 155 (3rd ed.).
1840Small folio. (4), XII, (3)-172 pp. With engraved portrait frontispiece, engraved title page, 85 steel engravings (after William H. Bartlett) and 1 map. Splendid contemporary giltstamped green morocco with fillets, dentelle border, and a central pointillé ornament adorned with flower buds. Spine, leading edges and inner dentelle attractively gilt. All edges gilt. Third edition. The British travel writer Julia S. H. Pardoe (1806-62), who, suffering from consumption, had been taken south early in her youth, accompanied her father to Constantinople in 1835 and was famous for her literary reports on Portugal and the Near East even as a child. "Since Lady Mary Wortley Montagu probably no woman has acquired so intimate a knowledge of Turkey [... Her] works, written [...] in a pleasant and graceful style, attracted a large share of notice, and, as popular history, may still be read with pleasure" (DNB). - First published in 1838 with only 78 plates; later editions were published under the title "Picturesque Europe" (1854 and 1874). The pretty views are engraved after William Henry Bartlett (1809-54), whose series of oriental and American topography were then very popular (cf. Thieme/B. II, 554). - Occasionally slightly browned or foxed (more so in four plates). Binding insignificantly rubbed at corners and raised bands, otherwise very nicely preserved. BLC 246, 438. DNB 15, 201, 5. Cf. Aboussouan 711 (first ed. 1838). Weber I, 1151 (1850).
1883Large 8vo. XX, 776 pp. Marbled endpapers. Contemp. half calf with giltstamped title to gilt spine. First edition. Contains an extensive bibliography after the preface, as well as "a chapter on the presence of the dog in America before the discovery" (OCLC). "Vétérinaire et anthropologiste, l'auteur (1826-1906) avait participé aux campagnes d'Algérie et de Syrie avant de prendre sa retraite en 1875" (Larousse XXe siècle V, 582). - Slight waterstains towards end; small defect to front flyleaf. Appealingly bound for the Belgian collector André Guillery from Waterloo. Monogram stamp "FA" on t.p.; later in the "Bibliotheca Tiliana" of the hunting collector Kurt Lindner (1906-87) with his stamp and bookplate. Mennessier de la Lance II, 319. OCLC 2104689.
1916Folio (280:366 mm). VIII, 54 pp., last blank f. With 12 photographic plates. Original printed boards. Only edition of this important work on Islamic Mamluk-era architectural decoration in Cairo. - Spine rebacked; covers rubbed and waterstained. Rare. OCLC 7491549.
1885Folio (310 x 405 mm). 4 pp. index of plates. 110 plates, 100 of which are in colour (incl. 26 double-page plates). Contemp. half leather with gilt title to spine, marbled boards. First edition of this selection from the author's famous, standard work on Arabian art, published between 1869 and 1877. The plates are slightly reduced from the original format and limit themselves to characteristic elements of decoration and ornament from all areas of the visual and applied arts of the Middle East. "'Arab Art', however, is more than a monument to the author's tenacity, skill, and devotion. For the historian of architecture, it is a precise source, a unique documentary record [...] On an entirely different level, Prisse d'Avennes has provided today's architects, designers, artists, and illustrators with some of the finest examples of measured drawings, pattern details, and illustrations of selected aspects of the built environment of a medieval Islamic city" (preface to the London 1963 edition). - Spine shows insignificant traces of restoration; interior clean and spotless. A fine copy. OCLC 643808682. Cf. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 138-140.
190026 x 37 mm. 819, (5) pp. Original leather leather binding richly gilt with floral motifs, with leather clasp and cord with attached magnifying lens. All edges gilt. In original cardboard box. A charming miniature Quran in excellent condition, preserved in its original gilt binding and cardboard box. With richly decorated opening double page frontispiece. Fully vocalized text set in a frame, verse separators, sura headings and section markers in the margins printed in black throughout. These miniature Qurans were printed at the press of Hans Steinbrener since the early 1900s; with the new millennium, the shop closed down and ceased production. These miniature editions of the Holy Quran, with their elaborate gilt leather bindings and attached magnifying glass, count among the finest examples of their kind and as masterpieces of Bohemian printing and craftsmanship. "The firm advertised itself as the continent's largest producer of artistic bindings for prayer books and the largest publisher of prayer books [...] This publisher supplied a market ranging from Manila to New York" (Marija Dalbello, "Franz Josef's Time Machine: Images of Modernity in the Era of Mechanical Photoreproduction", in: Book History, Vol. 5 [2002], pp. 67-103). - Available colours: green, red, blue, brown, maroon. Gilt cover design, box design, and clasp design may vary. Coin shown for size comparison only.
1906Watercolour and gouache on paper, signed. 23.8 x 34.8 cm. Rudolf Schima was a well-known Viennese cityscape painter, especially in watercolour. In 1906 he made a long trip to the Middle East, where he visited Egypt, Palestine, and the Islamic countries of North Africa.
1800Red chalk on paper, signed. 23.8 x 20.1 cm. Johann Josef Schindler was a very important Austrian painter, etcher and lithographer at the turn of the 19th century. A student at the Vienna Academy, he became a member in 1818. From 1810 he worked as art teacher. His works can be found in the Austrian Gallery Belvedere and other museums. - In good overall condition; restorations to defective top left corner and of two minor tears at upper edge.
17768vo. XX, 324 pp. With woodcut title vignette. Contemporary calf with giltstamped spine label and attractively gilt spine. All edges red. Marbled endpapers. Second Latin edition of the "Memoires secrets de la guerre de Hongrie" (1771). 1771 had also seen the publication of the "Memoriae secretae belli hungarici annis 1737, 38, 39", of which a German edition was published in 1772 ("Geheime Nachrichten von dem Kriege in Ungarn in denen Feldzügen 1737, 1738 und 1739"). - The Prussian officer F. W. K. Gf. von Schmettau (1742-1806), a member of the military staff of Frederick the Great, was known for his topographical maps. For the translator, the Tyrnau theologian and professor of oratory Michael Horvath (1728-1810), cf. de Backer/S. IV, 470. - A pretty copy. Petrik 1712-1860, III. OCLC 80119364. Cf. Atabey 1099 (2nd French ed.). Not in Apponyi or De Backer/Sommervogel.
18098vo. 137-190 pp. (With:) Mémoire pour servier a la conoissance des tribus Arabes en Syrie et dans l'Arabie Déserte et Pétrée. 281-324 pp. Modern marbled wrappers. Excerpts from vols. VII and VIII of the "Annales des voyages, de la géographie et de l'histoire". In these early 1806 reports, printed during Seetzen's ongoing expedition, Seetzen describes his travels in Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Arabia. The Frisian-born naturalist and explorer U. J. Seetzen departed in 1802 on a thoroughly planned expedition through Asia Minor, the Arabian Peninsula and Africa. His last report is dated November 1810; he was killed near Tais in the Yemen on Sept. 8, 1811. - Clean and untrimmed. Cf. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 2056. Gay 3601.
1924Imperial folio (360 x 490 mm). In the two original, matching decorative portfolios. Half cloth, boards with illustrated lithogr. title, inside covers and flaps with ornamental decoration printed in gold, green and blue. Green ties. I: 12 pp. 36 lithogr. plates in colour (of which 4 are double-page). II: 12 pp. 54 plates in colour (of which 2 are printed in gold on blue paper and 8 double-page sized). First edition of both parts, complete and not listed thus in library catalogues or auction records of the last decades. The first part was considered lost; indeed, its very existence was doubted ("apparently the first part was never published", Atabey Sale, Sotheby's 29 May 2002, lot 990, the second part alone fetching £22,000). Contains a finely chromolithographed selection of plates illustrating Islamic architecture and architectural details drawn from various mosques and numerous examples of ornamental decoration taken from Islamic fayences. - Some staining to upper covers of both portfolios; outer cloth of spines restored; mild foxing to margins of a few plates in part II; otherwise, plates clean and in good condition. Atabey 1015 (part 2 only). Not in Blackmer.
18508vo. 4 parts in one volume. (4), 32, 347, (1), 128, 228, II, (2) pp. With 2 (instead of 1!) folding engraved maps and 16 (instead of 20) engraved plates; several wood-engravings in the text. Contemporary green half calf with giltstamped spine. Marbled endpapers. Published as vol. 58 of the series "L'univers". Discusses Algiers (by Rozet), Algeria (by Carette), Libya (by Hoefer), and Tunisia (by Frank). - Some foxing. With a folding map of Algeria not listed in the table of plates, but does not contain four plates on Tunisia there listed. The fine engravings show costumes, views (Constantine, Algiers, Belida, Oran), etc. OCLC 6985583.
1844Steel engraving (Henit del. / Lechard sculp.). Image size 134 x 91 mm, plate size 228 x 170 mm, leaf size 262 x 176 mm. From Gabriel de Lurcy's "Voyages autour du Monde et Naufrages célèbres". - Clean and well-preserveed.
19564to. 4 pp. Speech of Herbert H. Lehman in the Senate of the United States, March 1, 1956, on "The Saudi Arabian Policy of Discrimination Against Americans of Jewish Faith", including subsequent correspondence. - Folded.
1956Large 4to (255 x 303 mm). (36) pp. With 6 mounted colour prints after watercolour drawings and numerous black-and-white illustrations. Original giltstamped green cloth. Exceedingly rare "memorandum", printed in Arabic and English throughout, documenting the telecommunication network scheme that was to modernise wireless telecommunications in Saudi Arabia, based on equipment manufactured and installed by the German engineering company Siemens & Halske. Also contains photoportraits of King Saud, Crown Prince Faisal (then Prime Minister, later to establish the first television broadcasting station in 1963), Prince Sultan (Minister of Communications), Sheikh Abdullah Al-Saad, Sheikh Ibrahim Silisilah, and Sheikh Abdullah Kazim, as well as maps, diagrams, and pictures of radio equipment in operation. - In perfect state of preservation. No copy listed in online library catalogues worldwide.
18858vo. XIV, 322, (2) pp. Original brown cloth with giltstamped title to spine. First edition of the standard work by W. Robertson Smith, Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic at Cambridge. - Removed from the Harvard College Library (with duplicate stamp). A single ink marking in the margin, otherwise fine. Remains of shelfmark labels. Another copy sold for £1,500 at Sotheby's in 1998 (Oct 14, lot 1125: some underlining of text & marks in margins). Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 1921. Fück 210. OCLC 2156214.
1894Large 8vo. 109 (instead of 129), (2) pp. With 16 (instead of 19) plates. Marbled half calf with giltstamped title to spine. Includes 4 photographic views of Mecca, 3 of Medina and 3 of Jeddah (after Sadiq Bey and others), wants only the ten-leaf appendix, 2 portraits and the plate showing the departure of the Mahmal in Cairo. - Salih Subhi, an Egyptian public health official, was commissioned by his government to undertake the Hajj in 1888 and 1894. Here he describes the eight-month journey in great detail. Muhammed Sadiq Bey was a major pioneer in the history of Arabian photography and the first person ever to photograph the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina. - Browned throughout due to paper. Our copy without the ten-leaf appendix before the author's epilogue and portrait. - Rare, the last copy on the market fetched £27,500 (Christie's, April 13 2010, lot 276, with author's dedication), the Burrell copy fetched £8,000 in 1999 (complete, but in modern cloth). Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 2096. Auboyneau/Fevret 20. OCLC 7055812.
1989Mineral Resources Bulletins Nos. 1, 4, 7-9, 12-18, 22-26, 28. Includes maps and diagrams. Professional Papers Nos. PP-1-3. All in their original printed green wrappers or full cloth bindings. Extensive collection of rare geologic Bulletins issued by the Saudi Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (Directorate General of Mineral Resources; after 1980: Deputy Ministry for Mineral Resources), centering on the 1970s. Includes the "Professional Papers" periodical published from 1982 onwards (all three issues published). Bulletin No. 1 ("A Guide for Investment and Development") is the second printing (1968). - Occasional stamps of former holding libraries and handwritten ownerships, altogether very well preserved.
