[Photo Album].MareMagnum
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Seven photos and a mimeo letter mounted on four pages of a tied homemade album with paper covers. Photos approximately 160 x 110 mm. Inked caption beneath each photo. The rest of the album pages are blank. Oblong folio. A mimeo letter from Headquarters, 169 (Lon) Inf Bde states that members of their brigade scaled Mount Camino and routed the Germans from an old Benedictine monastery located on the summit in November 1943. When the Moroccan Goums arrived in the area in the Spring of 1944 they were so impressed with the mountain warfare of the British troops that they subscribed for a plaque to be placed on top of the mountain honouring the British soldiers. These seven professional quality photos which the mimeo letters says are "enclosed" were taken at the dedication of the plaque. The photos show Moroccan troops, the 8th Army commander, and the plaque.
Approximately 120 mounted (usually 2-4 to a page) snap shots ranging in size from 60 x 40 mm to 120 x 100 mm. Brief captions in black ink under almost all the photos. 1/4 leather album. 4to. The first half of the photos show middle class life in Edwardian England. The second, and more interesting half of the photos are snap shots that appear to have been taken by a British officer and include military subjects, scenes of Baghdad and the Euphrates, and views of the Bosporus. - Some photos are faded or have minor spots or light streaks. Wretched-looking lacking backstrip, with covers worn, discolored, and detached.
Large 8vo. 3 vols. in one. 244, 148, 736 pp. With folding map. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped Arabic title to spine. Extensive "history and geography of the Sudan": an invaluable study based upon information gathered by Anglo-Egyptian intelligence during the years of the Mahdist State. In Arabic throughout. - From the library of FitzRoy Somerset, Lord Raglan (1885-1964); latterly removed from the Raglan family library at Cefntilla Court in Wales (bookplate). A good copy.
4to. (8), 176 pp. With woodcut printer's device on title page and several woodcut headpieces and initials. 18th century full vellum with giltstamped red spine label. In spite of the subtitle ("nuovamente mandate in luce"), this is the first edition of Ulloa's history of the Ottoman wars in Hungary, including an account of the 1566 Siege of Szigetvár. Though the battle resulted in an Ottoman victory, it halted the Ottoman advance on Vienna that year, and Vienna was not threatened again until 1683. "The Castilian-born Alfonso Ulloa was entrusted with various diplomatic missions by Emperor Maximilian as well as by King Philip II and thus had a first-hand knowledge of the events of the years 1566-1569. Disregarding the frequently panegyrical tone of the account, the book may still be used as a valuable historical source" (Göllner). Apponyi, on the other hand, cautions that "this is nothing but a reprint of Pietro Bizarri's 'Historia', published the previous year [... The book nothing to do with Ulloa's account of the events at Sziget published in his own 'Comentarios' in 1569: apparently, he found it easier to rip off Bizarri than himself ...] Ulloa has the nerve to present this shameless piece of plagiarism to his patron with the most unctuous and swaggering phrases [...] Cautiously, Ulloa shied away only from copying certain personal accounts of Bizarri's, or rather from presenting these experiences of Bizarri's as his own; everything else is reproduced verbatim". - Title page shows some brownstaining, otherwise a clean copy in a pretty contemporary binding. Formerly in the collection of the Marquess of Bute with the family's engraved armorial bookplate (from the library of Luton House, Bedfordshire; pre-1845) on the pastedown. Edit 16, CNCE 38245. Adams U 40. BM-STC Italian 704. Apponyi I, 437. Göllner I, 1271.
8vo. (166) pp., final blank f. With several Arabic interspersions in the text. Modern half calf with marbled covers, spine gilt with red label. All edges sprinkled in red. Second, significantly expanded edition of 24 travel letters by the Dutch educator and enthusiast of Arabic Nicolaes Cleynaerts (Clénard, 1493-1542), who visited Spain, Portugal and Morocco during the last years of his life, sending Latin letters "dated variously from 1535 to 1541" (Weber) to friends in his native Belgium: "He moved from Louvain to Salamanca and then to Fez (in 1540), so as to expand his knowledge of the Arabic language. In Granada he undertook a translation of the Qur'an. His letters to Latomus (1510-96) date from this time, when he was preoccupied with Qur'anic studies" (cf. Göllner I, p. 416); "his missives give a narrative of his journey to Morocco and provide critical commentaries on Islam" (cf. Göllner II, p. 18). Latomus's first collection, published in 1550, had comprised no more than 14 letters (while a "fragmentary publication" of Clénard's letters "concerned with the teaching of Latin" had appeared as early as 1546). "Notably the letters to Latomus of July 1539 and of April 1541 contain quotations in Arabic in a barely readable version of the original script" (Smitskamp, PO 248). Clénard had become acquainted with Islamic theology in Granada, learning Arabic from a local Moor, and endeavoured to familiarize Christianity and Islam with each other more closely. In Morocco he was welcomed by the Sultan, but his opposition to the slave trade, in which the Portuguese consul in Fez was involved, resulted in a cabal that forced him to flee back to Spain, and he died in the Alhambra soon after. His letters bear witness to the Spanish, Portuguese, and Moroccan history of his age and preserve his thoughts about the common ground between the Muslim and Christian faiths. - Some insignificant browning; an appealing copy. Rare: in 1999 the Burrell copy, the only copy in auction records, commanded £1,400 in spite of poor condition. Adams C 2160. BM-STC Dutch 54. Göllner 903. Weber II, 142. Pettegree/Walsby, Netherlandish Books 8448. Riant 3531. Chauvin (Clénard), p. 170f. Cf. Brunet II, 99 (other eds.).
Large 4to. (8), 838, (40) pp., final blank f. With several woodcut headpieces. 19th century green half mororcco gilt with marbled covers. First edition. - "Garzoni [1652-1719] was appointed official Venetian historiographer in 1692. His work deals mainly with the Sacra Lega and the Venetian victories against the Turks in the Morea during the war of 1684-90" (Atabey, 2nd ed. only). A second volume, a sequel in name only, deals with the War of Spanish Succession and was not appended until 1716. - Binding rubbed, corners somewhat bumped. Interior shows occasional browning, but largely quite clean. A good, wide-margined copy, this has been annotated throughout in pencil by an Arabic hand, probably in the early 20th century. Rare; no copy of the first edition on the market for 25 years. Brunet VI, 25458. Libr. Vinciana 1032. Graesse III, 82. OCLC 832293066. Cf. Atabey 479 (1707-19 second ed. only). Not in Blackmer.
2 vols. Elephant folio. 112 pp. 224 text illus. (some in colour), 204 plates (numbered 1-205, nos. 204-205 forming one double-page plate; 7 double-page; 2 coloured), showing photographs, measured drawings, ground plans, etc. Loose as issued in original board portfolio. First edition; rare. An important survey of the architecture of Constantinople, concentrating mainly on religious buildings. The extensive scope covers the major mosques of the Ottomans, as well as Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia, Hagios Theodoros and the Byzantine land walls. The plates depict interior and exterior views, architectural details, street scenes, plans, and elevations. A panoramic and comprehensive overview of many centuries of architectural evolution in Istanbul. - Very scare, and virtually impossible to obtain: the last copy at Sotheby's sold for £13,150 in 2002. The only other copy available in the trade has library stamps on every plate. - Some plates evenly browned (as usual); a few plates a bit frayed. Spines repaired with tape. Atabey 545. The Ottoman World II, Cat. Sotheby's, 28 May 2002, lot 537. Not in Blackmer.
Oblong folio (550 x 635 mm). Issues I and II (of 3). With 12 (out of 18) tinted chalk lithographs by L. Ekeman-Allesson after R. Kuntz. Wants text and table of subscribers. Stored loosely in 2 original wrappers with title label and green original half calf portfolio with gilt-lettered title and borders. Traces of ties. First and only edition. Commissioned by the Board of the Württemberg Stud, the first Arabian stud in Europe, this almost unobtainable series of large format plates shows the Stud's full-blooded Arabian horses with decorative oriental backgrounds. The plates constitute extremely early examples of chalk lithographs (listed individually by Winkler, Frühzeit der dt. Lithographie, 180, 57). Kuntz (1797-1848) was known for his "excellent depictions of horses" (cf. Thieme/B.); throughout his brief career he studied thoroughbreds in England, Hungary, and Paris as well as in Germany. In 1832 he became Painter to the Court of Karlsruhe, Baden; he suffered a stroke in 1846 and died in the newly-founded Illenau mental hospital. - Very slightly stained in places, three plates slightly browned. Of the utmost rarity. This copy removed from the collection of the House of Hanover, dispersed from 2005 (largely through Sotheby's). Includes a publisher's ad (by L. Harrison, Strand) for "A Series of Lithographic Drawings of Celebrated Horses" after James Ward, dedicated to George IV. Nissen 2327. Thieme/B. X, 444 & XXII, 116. Winkler, Die Frühzeit der dt. Lithographie 180.57.
1065 x 578 mm. Cloth-backed engraved view on 2 sheets joined, letterpress text pasted below (4 columns in Italian: "Descrizione della Città di Alessandria d'Egitto") with publisher's imprint. Matted. Unrecorded in the standard bibliographies and without counterpart in western libraries: a unique, large-scale view of Alexandria as seen from the north. Formerly the most powerful city of the ancient world after Rome, Alexandria came under Ottoman rule in 1517 and subsequently lost much of its importance to the new port of Rashid (Rosette), 40 miles east, though it would regain some of its former prominence with the construction of the Mahmoudiyah Canal in 1807. In Longhi's engraving, the Ottoman influence may be discerned in the people's clothing as well as in the city's architecture. Within the city are several mosques; the ancient obelisks are shown crowned with crescents. On the river Nile, which flows through the city and underneath the walls, the view depicts numerous trade boats and sailors. Outside the walls lies Pompey's Pillar. The Italian letterpress text pasted under the engraving provides mostly historical and geographical information. - Longhi's panorama seems to draw various aspects from previous works to create its own original representation of the Egyptian city. The perspective is similar to that used in Pierre Belon's 1553 "Observations" and in Braun and Hogenberg's 1575 "Alexandria, Vetustissimum Aegypti Emporium, Amplissima Civitas", published in their famous "Civitates orbis terrarum", but also to that in Mallet's smaller, almost certainly later (1683) view of Alexandria. Apart from the Braun/Hogenberg map, however, the principal model for Longhi's view was likely his own view of "Gran Cairo", apparently published simultaneously: the bird's-eye view and general composition correspond to this similarly rare engraving, which was probably based on a 1549 woodcut panorama created by Matteo Pagano in Venice. - According to scholars, Gioseffo (Giuseppe) Longhi (1620-91) issued a series of views of Italian and foreign cities between 1654 and 1674. A publisher, bookseller and archiepiscopal printer, he was active in Bologna from 1650 to the time of his death. Not only did he publish maps, but he was also a prolific literary editor, notably publishing all the dramatic works of the Italian playwright Giacinto Cicognini. - An excellent specimen. Cf. Tooley, Mapmakers III, 150 (for Giuseppe Longhi).
11 photographs (135 x 87 mm), individually numbered in the negative and mounted on cardboard (170 x 120 mm). Showing polo teams during a match, portraits of athletes with their horses, etc. - A well-preserved, uncommon set.
126 prints mounted in album, two to a page. Ca. 17 x 12 cms each. 4to. Showing horses, riders and the audience at a Polo tournament at an unidentified, though apparently German, track. In the background, the names of several players (of Anglo-Saxon, German and even Hungarian background) are visible on the boards marked "Blau" and "Weiss": W. Sommerhoff, H. V. Scott, Capt. T. Melvill, Gildemeister, G. Heye, Graf A. Sigray, etc. - First quire detached, occasional slight fading, but well preserved altogether.
14 albumen prints, mainly ca. 27 x 27 cms, but including two smaller prints (ca 20 x 26 cms) on a single board. Boards gilt on 3 sides (535 x 355 mm). A set of large photographs by Béchard and Sébah, showing Egyptian monuments and landscapes, the Tombs of the Kings in Thebes, views of Philae, the Nile cataracts, etc. Captioned in English on the backing boards. - Pascal Sébah (1823-86), a leading photographer of the Middle East, was renowned for his well-judged compositions and for the excellent print quality achieved by his technician A. Laroche. His studio, founded in 1857, was continued under his brother Cosimi and his son Jean. - Béchard was active between 1869 and ca. 1890. "His work is distinguished by the superb quality of his prints and the generally spectacular presentation of even the most common sites, such as the pyramids" (Nissan N. Perez). - Dampstained, soiled and faded; some edge flaws to boards.
8vo. 175, (1) pp. With a portrait frontispiece of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Original printed and illustrated wrappers. Second edition, revised by Shawki Sukkary. Abbas al-Aqqad (1889-1964) remains well known in Egypt as a versatile journalist, poet and literary critic. Translated from the Arabic original ("Athar al-`Arab fi al-hadarah al-Awrubbiyah") by Ismail Cashmiry and Muhammad al-Hadi and published under the auspices of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. Chapters include Arabic beliefs, life, writing, trade, science, arts, music, philosophy, state's organisation, religious movements, nationalism, the press, etc. "To sum up the situation of the Arab world today", al-Aqqad writes: "It is a situation in which the future looks as good as the past, and pride in our fathers is not divorced from hope for our sons". - Binding slightly duststained and chipped in places, but still a good copy. OCLC 16771175.
Oblong album (445 x 315 mm) with 71 large albumen photographic prints, mostly ca. 22 x 28 cm, signed and captioned in the negative (in French and English), mounted on both sides of the album's leaves. Includes a three-part folding panorama of Jerusalem from Mount Olivet, measuring 82 x 21 cms. Ornamental endpapers printed in gilt. Original auburn morocco with gilt upper cover. All edges gilt. A rare and unusually massive Palestine souvenir album containing 71 photographs by the renowned studio of Félix Bonfils (1831-85), the French-born photographer who had come to the Levant with General d'Hautpoul in 1860 and remained active in the East. Based in Beirut, Bonfils produced thousands of photographs depicting Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Greece and other parts of the Ottoman Empire. In the early days of western tourism to the Middle East, his works soon became popular as souvenirs. The photographs were available both separately and as individually arranged albums, but sets of this scope were uncommon, very few exceeding fifty images. The sumptuous binding which the owner chose underlines that this was a luxury souvenir for a more than ordinarily wealthy traveller. It features landscapes and city views, famous sights such as Jaffa Gate (Bab el-Khalil), sites sacred to the three religions (Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Church of the Flagellation, Al-Aqsa Mosque, Mosque of Omar, Wailing Wall), but also sights outside Jerusalem, including Hebron, Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, the River Jordan, Jericho, Wadi el-Kelt, Khan-el-Ahmar, Bethany, Nazareth, and Emmaus. - The photographs occasionally show some insignificant loss of contrast, but are altogether in good condition. A few edge flaws to the cardboard leaves, including a chafe mark across the lower edge where the paper has buckled. Binding in good condition, with occasional scuffing (more obvious on lower cover). A fine album of photographs of Palestine.
Small 8vo. 51, (1) pp. Contemporary yellow wrappers. Catholic catechism (Talim) published by the Fransciscans of Jerusalem, printed in Arabic throughout except for colophon "Reimprimatur + J. Patriarcha Hierosolymitanus". Rare; a single copy (with variant ending) recorded in library catalogues (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, shelfmark A. or. 1771 - "gift from Jerusalem"). OCLC 163278889.
4to. 2 volumes bound as 1. With lithographed frontispiece and with a small woodcut Portuguese royal coat of arms on title-page of both parts. Contemporary half sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. Rare first and only edition of a monograph on Portugal's political and economical decline, consisting of the two parts, by Antonio Maximino Dulac (1768-1850). The author examines the historical, political, agricultural and economic background of Portugal, comparing it to other European countries and trying to find "remedies" to "cure" the Portuguese state. In the first part Dulac deals at great length with France, whereas the second part deals, among other aspects, with ancient Egypt and the Arabs in the Iberian Peninsula. He examines the Umayyad dynasty, especially the reign of Abdullah (855-912) and Abd-ar-Rahman III (889-961). - Some marginal (water)stains and some pages somewhat thumbed. Binding worn along the extremities, especially at the bottom of the spine. Overall in good condition. Porbase (5 copies). WorldCat (4 copies).
647, (1) pp. 197, (1) pp. With title-page printed in red and black, 5 (of 6) large folding letterpress tables, 1 double-page engraved folding plate with 2 engraved illustrations, and some woodcut illustrations and numerous letterpress geomantic figures in text. With (2): Tabulae geomanticae, seu liber singularis de tribus ultimis ex antiquo manuscripto de anno MDXXXV. Iam primo luci datus, annexis duabus tabellis huic studio mirè inservientibus, caeteroquin utilibus & jucundis. Frankfurt am Main, Johann David Zunner, 1693. With 2 letterpress folding tables following text, and nearly 200 pages of letterpress tables with geomantic figures. 2 works in 1 volume, bound in reverse order. 8vo. Contemporary vellum. First edition of a collection of three texts on geomancy, a divination system with Arabian origins. Geomancy comes from the Ancient Greek "geômanteía", a translation of the Arabic term "'ilm al-raml", the "science of the sand". It includes texts by the English physician and astrologer Robert Fludd (1574-1637), the French physician Henri de Pisis and the Arab Alfakini. It is preceded by its separately published supplement Tabulae geomanticae, together forming "the standard printed Latin source for the rules of geomantic practice [...] a handbook and compendium not since rivalled for clarity and completeness" (Skinner). - Fludd's treatise "De Animae intellectualis Scientia seu geomantia" was first published in his magnum opus "Utriusque Cosmi maioris salicet et minoris metaphysica" (1617-19), and appeared slightly altered in the present work. "Fludd [...] tried to present [geomancy] as a science of intellectual soul in which intellectual rays emanated from the mind to mundane affairs and then returned to the center with tidings of the future [...] He discusses how the geomancer should so dispose himself that the intentions of his mind are clearly emitted [...] Fludd's treatise is immediately followed by a longer geomancy by H. de Pisis [first published in 1638]. The work is divided into three parts devoted respectively to the theory, practice and questions taken from previous authors. The theory is largely astrological. Instead of jotting down four rows of dots at random, a wheel with sixteen projections is spun or whirled in order to obtain one of the sixteen geomantic figures. Fludd is cited more than once, also Arabic authors like Geber and Aomar" (Thorndike). The last treatise contains the geomantic questions of the Arab Alfakini, son of Abizarch, based on a manuscript from 1535 and published here for the first time. The manuscript was a Latin translation by Plato of Tivoli (fl. first half of the 12th century), known for his translations of Arabic texts. A supplement to this last text, containing almost 200 pages of tables, is bound first. It opens with a series of 25 numbered questions, the answers to these questions can be found in the tables of the matching geomantic figure. - With a crude drawing of a head on pastedown. Lacking one letterpress folding table in the main work. Browned throughout, as usual, some occasional smudges, a few tears along the folds of the folding tables, and some wormholes in the first two leaves, resulting in a small hole in the gutter of the title-page, otherwise internally still good. Binding soiled and with crudely restored spine. VD 17, 7:692678X & 39:120436C. Caillet 4035. Thorndike VIII, 481f. S. Skinner, Terrestrial Astrology: Divination by Geomancy (1980).
Large 4to (220 x 261 mm). (4), VIII, 264, (2) pp. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped red spine label and sparsely gilt spine. Edges lightly sprinkled in red. Only edition. - Pioneering specimen of a catalogue of oriental manuscripts in the Leiden library, with extensive extracts in Arabic, produced by H. A. Hamaker (1789-1835). "Ce spécimen ne contient que douze articles" (Brunet). "The descriptions of a mere twelve items on 238 pages illustrate the diligence with which the author attends to each and every title. Indeed, the final MS, the 'Qamus al-Muhit' of Firuzabadi, is discussed on no fewer than 60 pages. Each author is provided with extensive biographical excerpts with Latin translations, to which are added extremely detailed discussions of scholarly literature. Had Hamaker kept up this method for all the oriental MSS in Leiden, estimated at a number of some ten thousand, he should have wanted about 25,000 pages, not to mention hundreds of pages of indices. It is thus questionable whether Hamaker intended more with his 'Specimen' than to provide an example of an ideality which was to promote his planned catalogue [...]. And yet, had he been able to realize this ideal with the help of other scholars, this would have given to the world a source-based work of reference which would have preserved its value to this day, not superseded either by Brockelmann's 'Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur' nor by Sezgin's 'Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums'" (cf. B. Liebrenz, Arabische, persische und türkische Handschriften in Leipzig [Leipzig 2008], p. 73). - Some creases to paper; binding rubbed and chafed in places. A good copy from the library of the Dutch theologian Christiaan Jacobus van der Vlis (1813-42) with his handwritten ownership on the front pastedown. Besterman 4352. Brunet III, 26f. & VI, 31385. Cf. Fück 181 (for Hamaker).
8vo. VIII, 341, (3) pp. Contemporary half calf with gilt spine and labels in red and black; covers and edges marbled. First edition. - The first extensive history of the medieval Muslim sect of the Assassins, a radical group from whose name the English term for a political or religious killer is derived. A fanatical branch of the Ismaili Muslims who viewed themselves as martyrs, the Assassins specialised in political murder (usually carried out with a dagger), often conducted in broad daylight and in full view of the public, so as to instill terror in their foes. Contemporaries found it incomprehensible that they entirely accepted the fact of their own death as a consequence, as they made no attempt to escape and exposed themselves to the revenge of the victim's followers. Acting from a strong ideological conviction, the Assassins aimed to re-establish a theocracy, the basic Islamic order bequeathed by the Prophet, as they felt their contemporary world order to be usurped by tyrants. Most of their victims were Sunni Muslims, especially the Seljuk rulers of the 12th and 13 centuries. - For this history, Hammer-Purgstall draws from a wide variety of mainly oriental sources (Ibn Khaldun, Jihannuma, Abulfeda, Persian and Turkish chronicles, with a small number of western studies included), all of which he lists at the beginning, and ultimately compares the mediaeval sect to the modern fanatics of his own day, particularly the Jacobin party of the French Revolution. Among the goals which he wishes to have achieved with his book, he writes, is to have "given a vivid account of the pernicious influence of secret societies under weak governments, and of the hideous abuse of religion for purposes of committing atrocities of unscrupulous ambition and unfettered despotism". - Slight browning, but a good, finely bound copy. Provenance: from the Thun-Hohenstein library in Decín (Tetschen) with their armorial stamp "Tetschner Bibliothek" on the reverse of the title page. When the castle was requisitioned by the Czechoslovakian army in 1933, the library was transferred to Prague and dispersed to the trade. Goedeke VII, 762, 47. Wurzbach VII, 274, I B 1. FRA 70 (1940), p. 572. Cf. Atabey 556; Blackmer 787 (English ed.).
(32), 545, (44) pp. With engraved title-page by Wingendorp. Contemporary sheepskin parchment. One of the two first editions published simultaneously of a historical work written by the German historian Georgius Hornius (1620-70). "In the dusk of his life, he moved to universal history, an endeavor that culminated with his Arca Noae, which comprised the chronicles of Europe, alongside descriptions of the cultures of China, Egypt, Assyria, ancient Greece, Rome, and pre-Columbian America, and surveys of their religion, art and literature" (Kowner). Entitled "Noah's Ark", it contains the history of the world starting at its creation up to the 17th century. It successively deals with all the great empires and kingdoms and their important founders and rulers. It contains narratives about the founding of Damascus, the founding of Arab kingdoms by Ishmael and Isaac, the caliphates, and the Turks. Beside sections dealing with the Middle East, the book deals with Chinese and American history as well, struggling with sources that predated the biblical sources. Hornius identified biblical figures with characters mentioned in early Chinese annals, suggesting that Cain's offspring had settled in China. Nevertheless, he rejected the possibility that some Chinese sources predated the flood for which Noah built his ark. - Born in Germany, Hornius later became a professor of history at Leiden University, the Netherlands. He mainly dealt with the topic of chronology, discussing how (world) history was to be divided into periods. Among others the compared the difference in biblical, classical and oriental chronologies, and wrote many works on history, theology, geography, and chronology. - With old shelfmark on spine and library stamp on flyleaf. Browned with some small spots throughout, engraved title-page slightly thumbed, a waterstain on leaf *2 and a small tear in leaf *3, and frequent wormholes, slightly affecting the text near the end of the book. Book block only loosely attached to binding. Otherwise a good copy. Sabin 33013. European Americana 666/75. R. Kowner, From white to yellow (2014), 9.
Small 8vo. (8) ff. (last blank), 71, (6) ff. (lacking errata). With woodcut printer's device to title page, a headpiece and 3 initials. Contemporary limp vellum with handwritten spine title. Early Italian translation of the account of the diplomatic mission to Egypt which Martyr d'Anghiera (1455-1526) undertook in 1501 on behalf of the Spanish court "with the intention of persuading the Sultan to adopt a policy of clemency towards the Christians of Egypt and Palestine following the defeat of the Moors in Spain. The outcome of his visit was successful; Martyr received the title of 'maestro de los caballeros', and in 1504 became Papal protonotary and prior of Granada" (Howgego I, p. 689). The author would achieve fame through his chronicles of the early Spanish expeditions to the New World, an important collection of sources on America. - Title page rather wrinkled and stained; old Italian ownership in ink to reverse. The errata ("Errori fatti nello stamparsi") in this edition sometimes comprise a single leaf (with a final blank), sometimes three leaves (resulting in a total of 9 uncounted leaves at the end), but the present copy wants the errata altogether. Edit 16, CNCE 1888. BM-STC Italian 30. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 37. Sabin 1559. Streit XV, 1787. Cf. Gay 2500. Not in Adams.
2 volumes. Folio. With 4 engraved plates, and 3 woodcut illustrations in the text. Each volume with an engraved headpiece, the first incorporating the coat of arms of Pope Clement XI, and the second that of Jean-Paul Bignon. Contemporary calf, richly gold-tooled spine and binding edges. First edition, second issue, of a monumental collection of Greek voyages, often overlooked in the literature, including the first complete edition of Cosmas of Alexandria's celebrated "Christiana Topographia". Cosmas, a merchant from Alexandria, sailed in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf and visited Ethiopia ca. 530. Though he was known as "Indicopleustes", or Indian Voyager, it is doubtful whether he actually visited India. In his "Christiana Topographia" Cosmas aimed to show that the earth was flat and the cosmos shaped like rectangular vaulted box. Several of the engravings in the present volume, reproduced from a manuscript, illustrates this view. In one of them the earth is shown as a rectangle with three notches, one of them representing the Arabian Gulf, and the whole surrounded by a an ocean, with in the east another rectangle representing Paradise, out of which four rivers flow into the inhabited world. Slightly browned, with some occasional minor foxing or thumbing, and some faint stains, otherwise in very good condition. Binding also very good, only slightly rubbed and the spine of the second volume slightly damaged at the top. Howgego, to 1800, C199. Cf. Dilke, “Cartography in the Byzantine Empire”, in: Harley & Woodward (eds.), The history of cartography I, pp. 261-263.
Manuscript letter in Italian, opening with a duplicate of an earlier letter, in a different hand, dated 26 September 1732, written in ink on one page of a bifolium originally folded 4 more times for sending (to 8.5 x 14 cm) with the address on one side and traces of a red wax on the other. Letter in Italian concerning the cloth trade in the capital of Egypt during the last months of 1732. The letter is addressed to the Italian merchant Nicolò Caragiani in Venice, who actively traded with the Levant and correspondence with several other merchants survives. The present letter informs Caragiani on the demand in certain types of cloth, which prizes are expected to rise during the approach of Ramadan. It mentions various fabrics including silks, damask and wools and also includes the prices of coffee and pepper. The letter opens with a copy of an earlier letter, followed by the actual letter in a different hand, signed by one Michiel whose last name is unclear, but could read something like Petea or Retea. - With some faint foxing, and a tiny hole and a tear along a fold on the address side, otherwise in very good condition.
4to. With 13 numbered lithographed plates (the first used as frontispiece), including 3 fully and 1 partially coloured by a contemporary hand, of which 2 highlighted in gold. Contemporary half calf, restored and rebacked with parts of the original backstrip laid down, with new tooling and title-label on spine, cloth sides, later endpapers. First edition of "the historic cornerstone of the study [of mummification] in English. For the time at which it appeared, the work was a monumental undertaking. Based on scholarly research and practical experience, Pettigrew's work was a summation of almost all that was known concerning Egyptian funerary practices. He compiled all the ancient sources and commented on them, as well as discussing many examples of mummified remains investigated by or known to him. The work is illustrated by [...] Georges Cruikshank (better known for his satirical drawings) that are the product of careful observation" (Peck). - With the bookplate of the British lawyer and politician Bernard John Seymour Coleridge, 2nd Baron Coleridge (1851-1927). Some foxing on the title-page and some spots and marginal waterstains on the plates, touching the last three illustrations, otherwise in good condition. Binding rebacked and restored. Brunet IV, 581. Gay 1565. W. H. Peck, "Mummies of ancient Egypt" in: Mummies, disease and ancient cultures (1998), p. 15.
5 glass positive lantern slides (85 × 100 mm), each with a black paper mask, paper tape around the edges, a letterpress slip at the foot giving the publisher's name and city, and a slip at the head with the manuscript title. Stored in a contemporary purpose-made wooden box with brass fittings, with the word "Mekka" on the top of the hinged lid. Five of the earliest and best photographs of Mecca and Medina, beautifully preserved as silver gelatin glass plates, including the first photograph of the Ka'ba in Mecca's Masjid al-Haram (Great Mosque). Two of the photographs were taken by the first person to photograph Mecca and Medina, the Egyptian Colonel Muhammad Sadiq Bey (1832-1902), who made them in 1880 for the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II. The others were taken by the first European to photograph Mecca, Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, and Al-Sayyid 'Abd al-Ghaffâr, who worked closely with him. Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936), one of the greatest pioneering Dutch Arabists, converted to Islam and lived in Mecca from January to about July 1885. The photographs by these three men are best known and most frequently reproduced from the published collotype facsimiles, while the rare surviving early albumen prints are usually faded or otherwise in bad condition. The present five plates, sold as lantern slides for magic lantern presentations, are therefore of the greatest importance as well-preserved high quality specimens of these famous photographs, providing the best early images of the mosques of Mecca and Medina. - All five slides are in very good condition, with only a bit of dust and the occasional smudge on the glass. They show: 1) The Masjid al-Haram in Mecca (the Great Mosque); 2) a closer view of the Ka'ba in Mecca; 3) the portrait of an unidentified Mu'ezzin in Mecca; 4) a portrait of an unidentified East Indian pilgrim; 5) the al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina (the Prophet's Mosque). Cf. D. v.d. Wal, Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (2011); J. J. Witkam, new introduction to the 2007 reprint of the 1931 English translation of Hurgronje, Mekka.