4 589 résultats
8vo. 2 vols. XXIV, 453, (3) pp. XXXVIII, 534, (2) pp. With 13 folding engr. plates and 2 folding tables. Contemp. marbled boards with giltstamped spine labels. First German edition of this account of travels in Upper and Lower Egypt, translated from the French original of the naturalist Charles Sonnini de Manoncourt (1751-1812), who had visited Egypt, Turkey, and Greece in 1777-78. The plates show landscapes, plants, fish, and antiquities. - Binding slightly bumped at extremeties; slight browning throughout. Titles stamped ("Institut für Grenz- und Auslandstudien"). Fromm 24495. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 245. Kainbacher 398. Cox I, 395. Graesse VI/1, 439. Cf. Gay 2250 (1799 French ed.).
Folio (220 x 325 mm). (36), 566, (2) pp. With woodcut title border by J. Faber after Hans Holbein, 2 additional borders, printer's device, and numerous initials. Blindstamped limp leather on four raised bands. Early Latin translation of the geography of Strabo, who had visited Egypt and sailed up the Nile in 25 BC. - Even in the introductory chapters, Strabo provides important details on the Arabian Peninsula: "Adjoining the Ethiopians, a needy and nomad race, is Arabia: one part of which is distinguished above all other lands by the title of Felix [i.e., Hedjaz and Nejd-ed-Ared], and the other, though not dignified by that name, is both generally believed and also said to be pre-eminently blessed. Though Homer knew of Arabia Felix, at that time it was by no means wealthy, but a wild country, the inhabitants of which dwelt for the most part in tents. It is only a small district which produces the aromatics from which the whole territory afterwards received its name, owing to the rarity of the commodity amongst us, and the value set upon it. That the Arabians are now flourishing and wealthy is due to their vast and extended trade" (p. 30f.); "Arabia Felix is bounded by the entire Arabian and Persian Gulfs, together with all the country of the tent-dwellers and the Sheikh-governed tribes. [...] Beside the ocean the country is tolerably fitted for habitation of man, but not so the centre of the country: this for the most part is barren, rugged sand desert. The same applies to the country of the Troglodytic Arabians and the part occupied by the fish-eating tribes" (p. 90f.) Furthermore, chapters 15 and 16 are devoted entirely to the Orient (chapter 16 on Arabia in particular), while the final chapter 17 discusses Egypt and Libya. - The fine title border shows King Solomon among the philosophers and poets of Greco-Roman antiquity; at the bottom, the Nine Muses lay a wreath on the head of Homer. Occasional insignificant brownstaining. The uncommon binding is slightly rubbed; some edge defects professionally restored. Title page has contemporary ms. ownership of the classical scholar Johannes Lyresius from Kleve, professor of Greek at Ingolstadt from 1568 onwards. A few marginalia and underlinings by his and later hands. VD 16, S 9346. Hoffmann III, 457. Schweiger I, 304. Cf. Macro 2148 (only later English translations).
Folio (225 x 340 mm). 5 pts. in 1 vol. (24), 296, (4) pp. (8), 232, (4) pp. (8), 200, (4) pp. (8), 122 pp. (2), 120, (4) pp. With 2 engr. title pages, 2 engr. maps (1 double-page), 63 engravings on 30 plates (1 folding) and numerous engravings in the text. Contemp. calf with giltstamped (oxydized) cover monogram "B.P.B.F.", dated "1681". Independently published in Geneva and Nuremberg, this is one of the four slightly different Nuremberg issues of the same year. The first three parts treat Tavernier's travels to Turkey, Persia, India, and Japan (with large map of Japan), containing reports about the Japanese persecution of the Christians and the Dutch settlements in the Far East. Book Two, chapter Nine of the Persian Travels is of particular interest, as it contains an account of Tavernier's voyage through the Arabian Gulf, mentioning Bahrain, Bandar Abbas, Qeshm, and Hormuz and making observations on the people and navigation of the Gulf. Parts 4 and 5 of the present Nuremberg edition contain as a supplement the first German edition of Spon's and Wheeler's archaeological description of their journey to the Levant. The plates depict festivals, processions, costumes, views, and images of the Eastern flora and fauna as well as coins and gems. - Binding slightly chafed in places; lower corners bumped. Interior somewhat browned and brownstained; bookplate of Thomas Christian Wöhler to front pastedown. Seldom found complete; the copies last auctioned all lacked plates or the last 2 parts. The copy described by Laures is likewise incomplete, containing a mere 23 plates. Not in the Atabey collection. VD 17, 12:635124A. Lipperheide 1456 = La 6. Alt-Japan-Kat. 1472. Mendelssohn IV, 462. Laures 530. Graesse VI/2, 43. Cf. Blackmer 1631 (note); Weber II, 279 (the Geneva edition only).
Oblong 8vo (250 x 150 mm). Ornate lithograph title page and 38 plates in original hand colour, some parts varnished with albumin. Original full brown morocco stamped in gilt and blind. All edges gilt. 38 stunningly hand-coloured plates of coaches in various styles, ranging from the plainest to the most elaborate and luxurious. The first two plates depict horses, a pair and a single horse, harnessed respectively to pull the coaches. The imagery is rich and vibrant; the binding is tight. - William Thomas Thorn (1819-81) and his brother Frederick (1822-82?) continued the prestigious family coachbuilding concern founded by their father Willliam in 1824. Upper board with gilt royal coat of arms and title "W. & F. Thorn Coach Builders & Harness Makers, by Special Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen" within a gilt geometric and floral border with embossed corner pieces. Lower board with same border design but all embossed. Expertly rebacked retaining the original spine; endpapers renewed. Rubbing and slight chipping along edges; occasional foxing, mostly affecting tissue guards. A scarce item, with no copies located on OCLC or COPAC.
8vo. 12 vols. With 72 engr. maps. Contemp. French full calf with giltstamped labels and gilt spines. All edges red; marbled endpapers. A fine copy of the twelve-volume octavo edition of the most detailed and accurate geography of its day (published simultaneously in four quarto volumes). All the maps are taken from the "Atlas Portatif" (1748-49) of Robert de Vaugondy. The fine map of the Arabian Peninsula is derived, via Vaugondy, from Delisle; "it includes the three classic divisions of the Arabian Peninsula and the following regional subdivisions: Tahama in the south west, Bahrain, which extends along the east coast and includes the town of Cathema, Yemen in the south which includes Oman, the States of the Cherif of Mecca which includes Hagiaz and parts of the centre of the Arabian Peninsula. Although the width of the Red Sea is exaggerated, the Sinai peninsula's shape is very close to reality. The topographical features and watercourses are not very different to how they are shown on other maps of the same period. A town named Naged is shown to the north west of the town of Janama" (Al Ankary). - Some bindings slightly bumped at extremeties. Contemporary ms. ownership "Leon. van Berg" to pastedowns; titles bear stamp of the La Valsainte Charterhouse, Switzerland (dissolved in 1825). Slightly browned. Formerly in the collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Streit 17, p. 252, n. 6198. Brunet VI, 19613. OCLC 34221488. For the map of Arabia cf. Tibbetts 278. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, The Gulf in Historic Maps, S. 162. Al Ankary Collection 338 (all referencing Vaugondy's map).
4to. 226 pp. (A8, B-C4, D8, E-F4, G8, H-J4, K8, L-M4, N8, O-P4, Q8, R-S4, T6, V4, X7, without the final blank). With title woodcut and 47 woodcuts in the text (including 1 full-page illustration). - (Bound after) II: Giovio, Paolo. Libellus de legatione Basilii Magni principis Moschoviae ad Clementem VII. Pontificem Max. in qua situs regionis antiquis incognitus, religio gentis, mores, & causae legationis fidelissime referuntur. Basel, [J. Froben], 1527. 39, (1) pp. With woodcut printer's device to t. p. - (Bound after) III: Fabri (of Leutkirch), Johann. Ad serenissimum principem Ferdinandum Archiducem Austriae, Moscovitarum iuxta mare glaciale religio. Basel, J. Bebel, 1526. 18 ff. - (Bound after) IV: Ricoldo (da Monte di Croce). Contra sectam Mahumeticam libellus. (Georgius de Hungaria). De vita & moribus Turcorum. Carben, Victor de. Libellus de vita et moribus Iudaeorum (ed. J. Lefèvre). Paris, H. Estienne, 1511. 86 ff. With large woodcut in the text and several woodcut initials. - (Bound after) V: Ficinus, Marsilio. De religione Christiana & fidei pietate opusculum. Xenocrates de morte, eodem interprete. Strasbourg, J. Knobloch, 1507. 90 ff. With woodcut printer's device on final page. - (Bound after) VI: Haythonus (Hatto). Liber historiarum partium orientis, sive passagium terrae sanctae scriptus anno Redemptoris nostri M.CCC. Hagenau, J. Setzer, 1529. 71 ff. With woodcut title border and device on final page. Contemp. wooden boards with wide blindstamped leather spine and 2 brass clasps. The first illustrated edition (in its second issue) of one of the most famous early travel reports and the first Western encounter with the Arab world. Of the utmost rarity; not a single copy could be traced on the market for the past sixty years; not a single copy in the USA (cf. OCLC). - The "Itinerario" contains the first printed eyewitness account of any place in today's United Arab Emirates: on his return journey from Mecca (which he was the first Westerner to describe), Varthema visited Ras al-Khaimah ("Giulfar") and portrayed the city as "most excellent and abounding in everything", with "a good seaport", and whose inhabitants are "all Muslims". While Montalboddo's famous anthology of discoveries, printed in 1507, contained the first printed reference to the Arabian Gulf region, it was Varthema's work, published only three years later, that offered the first actual report from the region by a Western traveller who had visited the coast. - All early editions of Varthema’s “Itinerario” are exceedingly rare (even the 2013 Hajj exhibition at the MIA, Doha, only featured the 1654 reprint; cf. below). This - the first illustrated one - is certainly the rarest of them all: international auction records list not a single copy. The 1510 editio princeps was offered for US$ 1 million at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair in April 2011. - Varthema, a gentleman adventurer and soldier from Bologna, left Venice at the end of 1502. In 1503 he reached Alexandria and ascended the Nile to Cairo, continuing to Beirut, Tripoli, Aleppo and Damascus, where, adopting Islam and taking the name of Yunas, he joined a Mameluke escort of a Hajj caravan and began the pilgrimage to Mecca. Varthema was amazed by what he observed: "Truly I never saw so many people collected in one spot as during the twenty days I remained there", he begins, and arriving at the Great Mosque, continues, "it would not be possible to describe the sweetness and the fragrances which are smelt within this temple." Thanks to his knowledge of Arabic and Islam, Varthema was able to appreciate the local culture of the places he visited. Impressed and fascinated, he describes not only rites and rituals, but also social, geographical, and day-to-day details. "I determined, personally, and with my own eyes", he declares in the prefatory dedication, "to ascertain the situation of places, the qualities of peoples [...] of Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Felix, Persia, India, and Ethiopia, remembering well that the testimony of one eye-witness is worth more than ten hear-says." His good fortune did not continue unabated, however: after embarking at Jeddah and sailing to Aden, he was denounced as a Christian spy and imprisoned. He secured his release and proceeded on an extensive tour of southwest Arabia. Stopping in Sanaa and Zebid as well as a number of smaller cities, he describes the people, the markets and trade, the kind of fruits and animals that are plentiful in the vicinity, and any historical or cultural information deemed noteworthy. Returning to Aden, and after a brief stop in Ethiopia, he set sail for India. In addition to visiting Persia, Varthema explored the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, including a very documented stay at Calicut at the beginning of 1505. He also purports to have made extensive travels around the Malay peninsula and the Moluccas. Returning to Calicut in August 1505, he took employment with the Portuguese at Cochin and, in 1508, made his way back to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope. - First published in 1510, Varthema's account became an immediate bestseller. In addition to his fascinating account of Egypt, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and the holy Muslim cities, "Varthema brought into European literature an appreciation of the areas east of India [...] which it had previously not received from the sea-travelers and which confirmed by firsthand observations many of the statements made earlier by Marco Polo and the writers of antiquity" (Lach, I. i. 166). "Varthema was a real traveller. His reports on the social and political conditions of the various lands he visited are reliable as being gathered from personal contact with places and peoples. His account of the overland trade is of great value in that we are made to see it before it had begun to give way to the all-seas route. He even heard of a southern continent and of a region of intense cold and very short days, being the first European probably after Marco Polo to bring back the rumor of Terra Australis" (Cox I, 260). - Bound with this work are five other 16th century imprints: II: Giovio's report on Russia is based on conversations with the Russian envoy Dimitry at the court of Pope Clement VII in Rome. - III: "The second printed book on Russia" (NUC), intelligence on Russia gathered by the later bishop of Vienna in Tübingen in 1525 from the envoy of the Grand Prince Ivan Vasilievitch. - IV: "Very rare anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic volume, of which this is the first edition to include the third tract by Victor de Carben" (Schreiber). Contains the report by Georgius de Hungaria, who was captured in 1438 during the siege of Mühlbach and was sold into Turkish slavery. Also includes the anti-Muslim treatise of Ricoldo (1242-1320) and the anti-Semitic pamphlet of Victor de Carben (1422-1515), a converted Rabbi from Cologne. - V: Fine Strasbourg humanist edition of two works by the great Neo-Platonist Marsilio Ficino (1433-99), including his 1474 apology of Christianity against Islam and Judaism. - VI: First Latin edition, edited by Menrad Molther, with his dedication to Georg von Morsum. The Armenian prince Haytho reached Poitiers in 1306 and there dictated his history of the Middle East since the first appearance of the Mongols. - Spine slightly rubbed; some browning, annotations and occasional worming. Ms. index of all works contained on front pastedown. Removed from the Donaueschingen court library with their stamps on first and final page. I: VD 16, ZV 15157. BM-STC 66. IA 113.543 (includes copies in BSB Munich and Wolfenbüttel). Benzing (Strasbourg) 100. Schmidt (Knobloch) 132. Ritter (IV) 932 & 2000. Muller 132, 170. Kristeller 383. Paulitschke 296. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 305. Röhricht 574. Cf. exhibition cat. “Hajj - The Journey Through Art” (Doha, 2013), p. 90 (1655 Dutch ed. only). Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 2239 (other editions only). - II: BM-STC 360. VD 16, G 2081. Adelung I, 188 ("1537" in error). - III: BM-STC 294. VD 16, F 189. Adelung I, 185. - IV: BM-STC 317. Moreau 197. Renouard 9, 1. Göllner 48. Apponyi 78. Schreiber 11. - V: BM-STC 302. Adams F 416. VD 16, F 939. Ritter 838. The same, Catalogue, 978. Schmidt (Knobloch) 33. Muller 117, 29. - VI: BM-STC 403. VD 16, H 870. Adelung I, 119 (imprecise). Röhricht 176 (p. 66). Ritter 1090. The same, Catalogue, 1171. Burg 200. Benzing (Hagenau) 84, 107.
Folio (368 x 255 mm). Etched and engraved title and 31 etched plates (numbered 1-30 and one unnumbered). Contemporary French red morocco gilt, arms of Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac on covers (Olivier 407, fer 15), within gilt border of Richelieu’s repeated motif of two crossed batons intertwined with an ornamental “R”, repeated with coronet within arabesques at the corners, spine gilt in compartments with same motif. First edition; a large-paper copy with Richelieu's arms. Vien's charming series of etchings depicts the costumes worn by members of the French Academy in Rome for a "Turkish masquerade" held during the Carnival celebrations of 1748. This masque is an outstanding example of the influence the orient exerted on western style during the late-Baroque era, showcasing the degree to which cultural transfer was possible and even a matter of enthusiastic adoption by the west but little more than half a century after the siege of Vienna. The elaborate masquerades at the French Academy constituted an important fixture in the Roman calendar. As director of the Academy, Vien organised the masque of 1748, the fabulous costumes of which are presented here, designed, drawn and etched by Vien himself. The costumes in the present suite are "a curious mixture of authentic Turkish habits and European invention" (Blackmer), showing the stock figures of the Turkish court liberally enhanced with elements of Vien's own concoction. The fantastical nature of the creations is a far cry from the sober neo-classical style with which Vien is commonly associated (his pupils included some of the foremost artists of the period, notably Jacques-Louis David). Vien's original drawings and oil paintings for the Mascarade are held by the Musée du Petit Palais; they were exhibited in Berlin in 1989. - Some marginal dampstaining and foxing, binding rebacked retaining most of original spine, corners repaired. This copy commanded $26,000 at Christie's New York in 1997. - Provenance: from the library of Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac (1696-1788), a close friend of Louis XV of France, though critical of Madame de Pompadour. He is supposedly the model for the character of Valmont in Choderlos de Laclos' "Les Liaisons dangereuses". Atabey 1288. Lipperheide Sm 10. Colas 3005 (suggesting the plates are un-numbered). Hiler 879. Le Blanc II, 122, 8-39. Cohen/R. 1014f. Brunet V, 1211. Cf. Blackmer 1730. Cf. Gay 3644. Graesse VI/2, 311 (Paris, Bassan et Poignan).
8vo. 264 pp. With 3 folding engr. plates. Contemp. calf with giltstamped red label to gilt spine. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. Second, enlarged edition, published a year after the first and now including "diverses observations sur les grandes actions qui se sont passées dans la dernière guerre d’Hongrie, et dans la présente en Moldavie". This is the first work of the Swiss-born De Warnery (1720-86), published in a German translation as early as 1766 (purportedly against his own wishes): according to the author, never one to eschew self-aggrandizement, he was the first to "unmask the Turks" and show that they did not warrant the fear with which they were usually viewed (cf. ADB XLI, 176). The plates show suggestions for battle arrays. - Unobtrusive repairs to lower cover of the appealing binding. Variously browned and brownstained due to paper. Rare. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Barbier IV, 257. Cf. Atabey 1321 (first ed. 1770). Not in Blackmer.
8vo. 181, (3) pp., final blank f. With 20 engraved plates in original hand colour. Contemporary boards. First edition, issued in ten separate instalments. An entire chapter is dedicated to the Wahhabi Bedouin Arabs, their customs and costumes. The charming engravings in vibrant original hand colour are based on Castellan's 1812 "Moeurs", each plate containing several meticulous costume illustrations. - Spine sunned. Contemporary ownership "S. M. Mayer zu Klagenfurt" on title page; additional (partly deleted) ownership on flyleaf. Very clean altogether. Rare. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Atabey 1333. OCLC 255511974. Not in Lipperheide, Colas, or Hiler.
8vo. XVI, 167, (17) pp. Contemporary half calf with handwritten spine label. First edition. Selections from Arabic works on medicine and natural science in the original language appended with separate title page (in Arabic): extracts from the "Kitab tahdib al-asma", by Abu Zakariya Yahya al-Nawawi, "Kitab 'uyun alanba' fi tabaqat al-atibba'", by Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, and "Tabaqat as-safiiyya", by Ibn Suhba. - The German orientalist H. F. Wüstenfeld (1808-99), considered one of the greatest literary historians of Arabic, studied theology and oriental languages at Göttingen and Berlin. He taught at Göttingen, becoming a professor there (1842-90), and published many important Arabic texts and valuable works on Arabic history. - Binding somewhat rubbed; some foxing. Old handwritten pencil notes to flyleaf; handwritten ownership to title. A good copy. Macro 2345. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 342.
VII, 169, (1) pp. Profusely illustrated throughout with 104 photo plates. Contemporary green cloth with giltstamped cover title. Second edition. Amin Sahid Zaher (b. 1908) served as Arabian horse breeder in the stud of the Royal Agricultural Society of Egypt and head of lifestock breeding programmes in Egypt. - A good copy. Cf. Boyd/P. 144.
Small 8vo. (8), 564, (4) pp. With 2 folding engraved maps and 8 folding engr. plates; several woodcuts in the text. Wants the portrait found in some copies. Contemporary dark brown full calf with traces of oxydized giltstamping to spine and gilt leading edges. First Amsterdam reprint: Taviernier's description of the Ottoman Imperial Seraglio - his first published work, which had appeared separately as early as 1675 - here forms the final part of his "Recueil de plusieurs relations et traitez singuliers & curieux", an independent publication which was, from 1679 onwards, appended to the author's "Six voyages en Turquie, en Perse, et aux Indes" (thus ultimately forming that collection's third and final volume). It was this volume, containing Tavernier's studies in commercial politics, that made the author's travels widely known. The fine maps show Japan and Tonquin, the plates depict costumes, a theatre performance, temples, and various processions. A woodcut in the Seraglio section gives the Islamic profession of faith, the Shahada, in Arabic script. "Tavernier spent eleven months in Constantinople before setting out on his first journey. He joined a caravan for Persia in 1638 and, between 1643 and 1668, made six voyages to Persia, India, the East Indies and Japan. During his travels he amassed a large collection of diamonds and jewels. His successful commercial enterprise was recognised by Louis XIV and he was granted a patent of nobility for his contribution to the establishment of French trade in Asia. It was Tavernier who indicated the trade routes to the East and made it possible for others to follow him. According to Brunet, the 'Recueil' appears with all editions of the 'Six Voyages' printed after 1679" (Atabey). "It appears that much of his information on the Seraglio was obtained from two former employees of the Sultan, one a Frenchman, the other an Italian" (Blackmer). - Binding rubbed but tight; a tear to one map repaired. Slight browning throughout due to paper. A good copy. Graesse VI/2, 43. Goldsmiths' 2283. Willems 1937. Atabey 1201. Cf. Cordier, BJ 393. Laures 525.
VI, 238 pp. 8vo. Modern boards using the original printed upper cover. First edition. - The autobiography of Usamah ibn Murshid ibn Munqidh (1095-1188), who introduced this genre of writing to Arabic literature (cf. GAL I, 319). Born in Shaizar in northern Syria, where his family ruled a small Emirate, he was banished by his uncle and for a time entered the services of Atabeg Sihabaddin ibn Buri, where he got to know members of the Knights Templar. After spending several years in seclusion as a hunter in Egypt, he returned to Damaskus in 1154, joining the campaign against the European crusaders. The editor H. Derenbourg was the first to discover the sole surviving manuscript of the "Kitab al-I'tibar" (in the Escorial in Madrid) and produced this first translation, afterwards the first Arabic edition (1886) and a biography of Usamah (1889). - A few repaired paper defects; well-preserved altogether. OCLC 7045652.
Folio. LXI, (1), 146; 48 SS. Anhang. Mit 13 (davon 3 gefalt. und 8 ganzseitigen) Tafeln mit insges. 19 Karten, wovon 8 als Lithographien ausgeführt. Halblederband der Zeit auf fünf falschen Bünden mit goldgepr., ornamentalen Rückentitel, marmorierten Decken und mehrfarbigen Vorsätzen aus lackiertem Kamm-Marmorpapier sowie grünem Lesebändchen. Erste und einzige Ausgabe dieses für die moderne christliche Bibelwissenschaft bahnbrechenden geographischen und soziologischen Kommentars zum im AT geschilderten Auszug der Israeliten aus Ägypten. Das Werk des französischen Archäologen und Reisenden Léon Emmanuel Simon Joseph Laborde (1807-69) besticht vor allem durch die nach seinen detailreichen Zeichnungen von den Pariser Firmen Formentin, Kaeppelin und Thierry kräftig und sauber lithografierten Tafeln, welche folgende, damals auch neue kartographische Erkenntnisse enthaltende Aufnahmen zeigen: eine Übersichtskarte der Wegstrecke des Exodus, Teile der ehemals römischen Provinz Arabia Petraea (in etwa die Sinai-Halbinsel und den Westen des heutigen Jordanien umfassend), den westlichen Teil des heutigen Ägypten und die Gegend der Stadt Suez, den Golf von Sues, den Wadi Feiran auf der Halbinsel Sinai, das Gebirgsmassiv rund um Horeb und Katharinenberg im Süden des Sinai, die Gegend rund um Dahab am Roten Meer und den Golf von Akaba. Bemerkenswert ist auch Labordes kenntnisreiche Analyse der Bibeltexte, die zudem in altgriechischen und lateinischen Versionen abgedruckt sind. "On aimera lire, par exemple, les observations sur la magie effectuées à propos de plaies d'Egpyte, ou tout ce que Laborde écrit sur les animaux, les maladies ou les coutumes d'Orient" (François Laplanche). - Eingebunden: "Discours du Roi. Séance Royale du 9 janvier 1843." Gr.-8vo. 4 SS. bzw. ein reichlich, mit Holzstichen illustriertes Ankündigungsblatt für zwei weitere Werte von Laborde: "Voyage en Orient" und "Voyage de l'Arabie pétrée." Gr.-4to. 4 SS. - Einband an den Ecken und Kanten berieben und bestoßen, innen durchgehend stockfleckig, fliegender Vorsatz mit hs. Besitzervermerk, insgesamt kompaktes, hübsch gebundenes Exemplar mit den gut erhaltenen, nur wenig fleckigen Karten. Mayeur/Hilaire, zit. in WBIS/ABF 3.0266.378.
4to. (8), 79, (1) pp. With woodcut headpiece on t. p. and initials. 19th century orange-red crushed morocco by Riviere with leading edges gilt and elaborate gilt inner dentelle, rebacked. All edges gilt. The exceedingly rare first edition of one of the earliest English treatises on horsemanship, derived in part from Xenophon, Federico Grisone's "Ordini di cavalcare", and other authors, and in part from Astley's own experience. This is, in fact, the first translation into English of Xenophon's treatise "Peri hippikes" ("On horsemanship"). - The publication of Astley's "Art of Riding", perhaps his single most lasting achievement, came late in his life as an Elizabethan courtier. Here, he relays the doctrine of the Italian riding schools as he and other Gentleman Pensioners understood it, particularly on training the horse to respond to the hand. Astley was on friendly terms with Thomas Blundeville, whose Grisone translation two decades earlier counts as the first treatise on horsemanship to be published in English. - First three leaves slightly browned, with the upper right corner of each leaf imperceptibly restored from another copy; a closed tear to f. A4. Altogether a remarkable clean and crisp copy in an English master binding. The Fitzwilliam-Gloucester copy, bound with a common companion piece, Claudio Corte's "Art of Riding" (also published by Denham in the same year) commanded £14,400 at Christie's in 2006. The catalogue notes that the scarcity of these two work "at auction varies markedly; ABPC records some 5 copies of Corte's work at auction since 1975, but none of Astley's". Huth p. 11. STC 884. Mellon/Podeschi 12. Hoffmann III, 609 (s. v. Xenophon).
Folio (242 x 342 mm). 19-442, 447-450 and 455-456 pp., with pp. 9-18, 443-446 and 451-454, 457-462 and the final leaf supplied in 18th-century manuscript. With 138 (instead of 149) text woodcuts by Leonardo Parassole after Antonio Tempesta. 19th-century half cloth with marbled covers. The first Gospel printing in the interlinear Arabic and Latin version, prepared at the same time and printed by the same press as the first Arabic-only Gospel. These were the first works ever produced by Ferdinando de' Medici's "Medicea" press, founded by Pope Gregory XIII to spread the word of Christ in the Orient. Supervised by the able scholar Giovambattista Raimondi (1536-1614), its strength lay in oriental, especially Arabic, printing. After Raimondi's death, the press relocated to Florence. - The Arabic text is printed in Robert Granjon's famous large fount, generally considered the first satisfactory Arabic printing type; as all early printed editions of the Arabic Gospels, it is based on the Alexandrian Vulgate (cf. Darlow/M. 1636). The Latin version is by Leonardo Sionita. The work begins with page 9, without a title page or any preliminary matter at all: "the intended prefatory matter was apparently never published" (Darlow/M.); these first eight pages were not supplied until the 1619 re-issue. The present copy lacks the first five leaves and eight leaves at the end, all of which have been supplied in Latin and Arabic manuscript by an 18th century hand. Occasional browning; some worming to gutter (occasionally touching text as well as woodcuts); severe edge defects to the first few printed leaves; final printed leaves remargined; several severely duststained. Darlow/Moule 1637. Mortimer 64 (note). Streit XVI, p. 866, no. 5138.
Colour lithograph. 43 x 33.3 cm. One of the very rare Weißenburg illustrated broadsheets showing oriental motifs. These were published under the fictitious address of Hassan Uwais (Auvès) in Cairo. The actual publisher, Camille Burckardt, was head of the Weißenburg company from 1880 until 1888. - Slight crease, minor edge damage and browning. All of these prints are very rare; a different print commanded £21,250 at Sotheby's in 2012. Des Mondes de Papier p. 66, no. 2.
Hand-coloured engraved map (365 x 260 mm). Detailed map of Saudi Arabia, the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, etc. Rigobert Bonne was the Official Hydrographer to the French Depot De La Marine. - In good condition. Not in Tibbetts, Al Ankary and Al-Qasimi.
Copper-plate engraving (515 x 415 mm). Superbly engraved map of region from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, based upon Guillaume de l'Isles map of the same title. The scientific information for this map was taken from the maps of Guillaume de l'Isle. It shows a detailed diagram of the caravan routes to Mecca and Medina from across the Ottoman Empire. A note on the lower left corner gives a description of Turkey, Arabia and Persia. Tibbetts 221. Al-Qasimi 124. Al Ankary 287.
101 x 71 cm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale, ca. 1:150,000. Signed by Collingwood. Impressive, early, large-scale map of central Iraq, showing the area between Al Hillah (100 km south of Baghdad) to the ruins of the ancient Sumerian city of Nippur. Indicates sand hills, canals, old river beds, tracks, cultivated areas. Includes inset plans and views of Tel Ibrahim, Zibbleyeh, Nejmi, Niffer, and the Niffer Mounds. - Some paper defects and edge damage restored. Rare; copies are known in no more than two public collections (Bodleian; British Library). Personal copy of the cartographer William Collingwood, signed by himself as well as by Cdr. W. B. Selby, R.I.N. - Selby began his distinguished surveying career in 1837 when, as a midshipman, he embarked on the expedition first to lay navigation buoys in the mouths of the Indus River and then to chart some coastal areas in the Horn of Africa. By 1846 he was back working off the mouth of the Indus, having made his reputation in Mesopotamia (in 1840-41), and thereafter achieved considerable acclaim for his numerous other surveys, including those during the military expedition to Persia in 1856, before returning to England at the end of 1862. He was succeeded as Surveyor of Mesopotamia by his protégé, Lt. William Collingwood (a distant cousin of the Admiral), who had already done much valuable work in the region, including the large-scale, though surreptitious, mapping of Baghdad in 1855, described by him as follows: "The survey of the city of Baghdad was completed entirely by myself and under very unpleasant restrictions [...] The Turkish Government were not to know anything about it [...] and I was left to survey the town as best I could, and under such difficulties that at times I had to note bearings and paces all over my white shirt, where best I could get the pencil at the time [...]". During this same expedition, Collingwood also surveyed the Shatt-ul-Arab, the city of Bussorah (also by stealth) and much of the country between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and he was undoubtedly one of the most gifted and productive R.I.N. surveyors of his day. OCLC 863254646.
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. (24) pp. Numerous passages interspersed in Arabic and Hebrew characters. Papered spine. First edition. - Philosophical dissertation by the German theologian, linguist and oriental scholar Johann Frischmuth (1619-87) about various passages in the Christian Bible which are interpreted by Islam to contain references to the Prophet Muhammad: Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalm 50:2; Isaiah 21:7; Malachi 4:5-6; and John 16:7. - Slightly browned. VD 17, 3:009831S. Chauvin XII, 590. Arnold 277. Bibl. de Sacy I, 86f.
Folio (240:320 mm). XII, (4), 142, (4) pp., 104 plates. With numerous printed and photographic illustrations in the text. Contemp. green marbled half leather with giltstamped title to spine. Upper edge gilt. First edition; unnumbered copy. Meticulously produced standard work on Islamic book art, of which 375 numbered copies were issued. Part one by Adolf Grohmann, based on the famous collection of Archeduke Rainer (today in the Austrian National Library), covers the early Islamic period from the 7th to the 12th century. Part two by Thomas W. Arnold covers the 13th to the 18th century, arranged by regions. - Occasional slight brownstaining and foxing to lower edge; spine insignificantly scuffed. Altogether a fine copy. The English edition, published simultaneously with the German, sold for £2,600 at Sotheby's (Oct 14, 1999, lot 53: Burrell copy). OCLC 13055751.
Hand-coloured engraved map (645 x 540 mm). Guillaume de l'Isle used the three classic divisions in this map, but it also contains other divisions and subdivisions based on geographical and political considerations. - Well preserved. Tibbetts 199. Cf. Al-Qasimi 268 (Paris ed. 1707).
Hand-coloured engraved map (635 x 505 mm). A fine example of Philippe Buache's edition of Guillaume de l'Isles highly detailed map of the region centered on the Red Sea. The map extends west to include Sicily, the Southeastern Mediterreanean, Barbaria, Nigritie, and a Guinea on the West Coast of Africa. To the east, the map includes the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf of Aden and the Kingdom of Ajan and Dadel. De l'Isle's maps provided the first truly scientific mapping of the regions covered, showing the flamboyant Dutch style of illustrations and adopting a highly detailed and decorative approach to the printed map. The result is a combination of spectacular detail and accuracy, not approached by the Dutch or any other 17th Century map makers. The detail in this map reflects this Renaissance of style and accuracy. Tibbetts 199. Cf. Al-Qasimi 268 (1707 ed.).
