Rosen, Georg.MareMagnum
4577 risultati
8vo. XIX, (1), 197, (3) pp. Contemporary blindstamped green cloth. First published edition. "A translation of Persian narratives from the posthumous papers of his half-brother, Friedrich Rosen, including a glossary and grammar of modern Farsi" (NDB). - The doctoral dissertation of the Prussian oriental scholar and diplomat G. Rosen (Ballhorn, 1820-91), who studied in Berlin and Leipzig. In 1844 he was a dragoman at the Prussian embassy in Constantinople before becoming Prussian consul in Jerusalem in 1853. From 1867 he served as German Consul General in Belgrade. - Some browning and brownstaining throughout due to paper stock. Binding a little rubbed with traces of a library label to spine. NDB XXII, 52.
8vo. XIX, (1), 197, (3) pp. Modern orange cardboard binding with spine label clipped from original printed wrappers. First published edition. "A translation of Persian narratives from the posthumous papers of his half-brother, Friedrich Rosen, including a glossary and grammar of modern Farsi" (NDB). - The doctoral dissertation of the Prussian oriental scholar and diplomat G. Rosen (Ballhorn, 1820-91), who studied in Berlin and Leipzig. In 1844 he was a dragoman at the Prussian embassy in Constantinople before becoming Prussian consul in Jerusalem in 1853. From 1867 he served as German Consul General in Belgrade. - Some browning and brownstaining throughout due to paper stock. Noticeable wrinkling and edge defects as well as ink smudges to beginning and end. NDB XXII, 52.
Oblong 4to. 48, 32, (2) pp. Original printed wrappers. A wide-ranging and painstakingly reproduced ensemble of Arabic handwriting specimens, lithographed throughout and entirely in Arabic save for the title and preface, which are in French. Comprises letters (part 1) as well as legal documents (part 2). Published as a manual and workbook for self-instruction in reading Arabic, this includes a section with the author's transcriptions in normalised Arabic script, headed by brief captions and synopses in French. Daniel Roux was "directeur de l'école arabe-française de la rue des Pyramides". - Preserved in the original printed wrappers. Very scarce. OCLC 458780296.
4to. 1 page. Extraordinary record of slave trade in the Ottoman Empire, confirming the sale of "a Caucasian, roughly ten or twelve years old, virgin and Circassian female slave" to an Ottoman woman. Stamped and signed by a slave trader named Kozpaha, probably himself of Circassian origin. The girl had probably come to the Ottoman Empire with the Great Circassian Migration following the Russo-Circassian war (1763-1864). Despite political efforts to ban slavery in the late 19th century, the practice continued largely unabated into the early 20th century. As late as 1908, female slaves were still sold in the Ottoman Empire. - On stationery with the tughra of sultan Abdülaziz. Several marginal tears, mostly along the folds, 2 of them slightly touching the text; a small hole in the lower quarter. 4 marginal tears and a tiny hole in the centre rebacked with tape by a previous owner. Surface nicks and punch marks all over the page, most prominent in blank areas. - A unique survival and an upsetting testimonial of child slavery.
4to. 171, (1) pp. Ottoman Turkish in Arabic type. Modern full red cloth with giltstamped spine-title, with the original front wrapper bound before the title-page. First and only edition. - Early pilot guide to the Aegean Sea by an admiral of the Ottoman navy, describing the shores of the Vilayet of the Archipelago, an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire extant from 1867 to 1912/13. At its maximum extent it included the Ottoman Aegean islands, Cyprus, and the Dardanelles Strait. Admiral Süleyman Faik (1845-1909) had in 1864 travelled the shores of the African continent, which earned him the position of captain, and served in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78. - Paper evenly browned throughout. Small tear to front wrapper, a second small tear rebacked with paper; minor edge flaws to final leaf, not touching the text. Özege 16579. Not in Askerî Tarih Yayinlari Bibliyografyasi [= Bibliography of Turkish History of Military Books].
580 x 850 mm. 1 topographic and 4 political colour-printed folding maps on one sheet. Scale: 1:4,000,000; 1:10,000,000; 1:1,500,000. Published by the German Wehrmacht for use in the field: a large map of Asia Minor, reaching from Eastern Europe in the west to Iran in the east, showing the whole of Turkey, parts of Russia, the Caspian Sea, and the far north of the Arabian Gulf, identifying Kuwait city. The northern parts of Libya, Egypt, and Palestine are visible, including cities such as Cairo, Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Tel-Aviv. The furthest point to the west is the Italian town of Brindisi. The captions include translations of common Arabic, Persian, Russian and Turkish geographical terms into German, as well as instructions for the pronunciation of Turkish letters. - Smaller maps of the Gulf, including parts of Russia and India, as well as of the Mediterranean, Rhodes and the Dodecanese, and Cyprus verso. - Very well preserved. Cf. Biester/Wurm, Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens Bd. 70, 196.
Large 4to (210 x 250 mm). (4), VII, (1), 64 pp. Original half calf over marbled boards and giltstamped spine and title lable. Only printing of this oration on the great contributions made by Dutch scholars to the study of oriental languages, delivered by the Amsterdam professor Willmet (1750-1835) on 26 November 1804. A student of Everard Scheidius, Willmet also produced a valuable Arabic dictionary in 1784 (cf. Smitskamp, PO 317). - Old library shelfmarks to upper cover and front pastedown. A little browned and brownstained near the end, otherwise well preserved; a good, wide-margined copy. OCLC 64504237.
Heliozincograph in colour, 590 x 465 cm. Scale: 1 inch to 4 miles (1:253,440). Exceedingly rare and classified at the time of release: one of the first maps to depict clearly the Abadan Petroleum Refinery, the first oil refinery in the Middle East. The map of the Khorramshahr-Abadan area of Iran and the lower Shatt al-Arab waterway at the head of the Arabian Gulf was published in the early days of World War I, when protecting the refinery was Britain’s primary objective in the region. Published in Calcutta by the Survey of India, predicated on the best and most recent surveys. Labelled "For Official use only". - Some creasing; some stains to upper margin. An abrasion to upper neatline with old repair on verso; an old tear with minor loss to upper left blank margin with old repair from verso.
4to. XXVIII, (6), 329, (1) pp. With engraved printer's device to title-page. Contemporary unsophisticated boards. All edges sprinkled blue and red. Second printing of Reiske's Latin edition of Abulfida's great historical work, the "Concise History of Humanity". Written in the form of annals extending from the creation of the world to the year 1329, it is divided into two parts, one covering the history of pre-Islamic Arabia and the other the subsequent history of Islam. This translation, first published in 1754, reaches up to the year 406 H (1015 CE). - The brilliant scholar Reiske (1716-74) is regarded as the father of Arabic studies as an independent discipline. In sharp contrast to his teacher Schultens, he was one of the first Arabists whose work was unfettered by the constraints of Biblical exegesis. - Browned throughout due to paper stock. Binding rubbed and stained, extremeties bumped. From the library of the Gregorio Speciale (1738-1820), Nicosian nobleman, canon, and director of the Stamperia Reale (Royal Printing House) of Palermo from 1791 until his death, with his engraved bookplate ("Garofalo sc.") on the verso of the title-page. GAL II, 45f. Schnurrer p. 119f. OCLC 49478817. Not in Rita Loredana Foti's catalogue of Speciale's library (Catalogo della libreria del cavaliere don Gregorio Speciale); see Libri e biblioteche in Sicilia tra tardo settecento in primo ottocento. Il caso del catalogo di Gregorio Speciale, in: Archivio di Stato di Palermo: Quaderni IX (2014), at pp. 99ff. (with an illustration of his bookplate on p. 100).
Tall 8vo (172 x 252 mm). 4 vols. Arabic text throughout apart from titles in English (lacking in second volume) and 4 pp. subscribers' list in vol. 4. Modern half calf over marbled boards with blindstamped spine title. The rare and celebrated first complete edition of the Arabic text, printed in Calcutta at the Baptist Mission Press. Also known as the "Calcutta II" version, this is described on the title as "now, for the first time, published complete in the original Arabic, from an Egyptian manuscript brought to India by the late Major Turner Macan, editor of the Shah-Nameh". - The original scattered Arabic texts were collected in four corpora: the so-called Calcutta I or Shirwanee edition (1814-18, 2 vols.), the Bulaq or Cairo edition (1835, 2 vols.), the Breslau edition (1825-38, 8 vols.), and the present one, the "Calcutta II" or the "MacNaghten" edition. Considered the most comprehensive text of the Arabian Nights, this is also the basis for the best-known translations including the English editions by John Payne and Richard F. Burton. - "Première édition complète du texte arabe [...] Elle a été donnée d'après un manuscrit égyptien pris dans l'Inde par le major Turner Macan, et elle a eu pour éditeur sir W.-H. Macnaghten" (Brunet). "It was only in 1839-1842 that the Arabic text [of the 1001 Nights] was edited in its entirety, by Macnaghten" (cf. Fück). - Browned and brownstained. Intermittent worming throughout, occasionally with extensive loss and stabilized with translucent paper, especially concerning the beginning and end of vol. 2. An extraordinary survival. Chauvin IV, p. 17, 20B. Brunet III, 1715. Graesse IV, 523. Fück, p. 139, n. 365.
4to. 29, (1) pp., final blank leaf. With a folding plan of Jeddah. Contemporary printed wrappers. Stapled. Rare contemporary account of the plague outbreak in Jeddah, written by the chief sanitary inspector, documenting disease control in the Ottoman Empire. The treatise puts forward nine suggestions on how to prevent future outbreaks, including an urgent recommendation to establish a strictly isolated hospital for plague patients only, a reminder to look out for a sufficient supply of dumpcarts to get rid of dirty laundry and rags, and an appeal to disinfect all clothes, either chemically or by means of boiling, and to burn immediately all textiles coming in from Bombay or other infected places. The plan shows the Yemen, Chami and Mazloum quarters as well as the city's sewage system. With 7 pages of general information on Jeddah, discussing its climate and population, as well as the Sambuk, a traditional wooden sailing vessel. - Spine somewhat worn; small tear to the plan. A good copy of an uncommon work, never seen at auction. OCLC 44403162.
(8), 92 pp. With woodcut vignette to title-page. Modern green marbled wrappers. 4to. Second, expanded edition of this rare linguistic treatise by the Dutch oriental scholar Johannes van den Driesche (Drusius, 1550-1616): a collection of Hebrew and Arabic wisdom literature in Latin translation. The first edition had been produced by the same publisher in 1591; the present edition preserves the dedication to Thomas Bodley, dated 1 August 1591. - "In 1577 the University of Leiden entrusted Driesche with the chair of Hebrew, Chaldaean, and Syriac, which he relinquished in 1585 in favour of the better-endowed chair in Franeker. For thirty years he discharged his duties with great assiduity" (cf. ADB V, 489). - Occasional insignificant browning. OCLC 45974008.
8vo. XI, (1), (5)-343, (1) pp. With a photogravure portrait frontispiece. Publisher's stamped full cloth with gilt title to spine. Rare first and only edition: a collection of vivid letters by the Belfast-born engineer Maxwell (1838-80), written from Syria in 1870-73 to friends while he was performing surveys for a railroad through the valley of the Euphrates and planning the water supply of Beirut in Lebanon. - Maxwell travels via Brindisi and the Greek islands through Smyrna, Rhodes, Antioch, and Beilan, where he describes the difficulty of designing a railroad due to the lack of proper mapping of the area: "On many occasions I was tripped up, and sent rolling down amongst other unfriendly plants" (p. 50). He also gives an account of his visit to "the finest house of Aleppo" (p. 101) and a flood in Smyrna, describes the cities of Tripolis, Beirut, Jerusalem, and Port Said, and expresses his disappointment over the Sublime Porte interrupting his survey, which indeed was never carried out completely, on several occasions. - The second and third period of letters were prompted by Maxwell's engagement in providing the city of Beirut with a water supply. They give an account of Cairo and the pyramids as well as of Alexandria before going on to describe negotiations with the council in Beirut and the obstacles met there: "As a last hope, we determined, and I think wisely, to try and obtain by means of the Consuls and public opinion what cannot be obtained by polite asking" (p. 273). The letters from the second period include a trip to Cyprus as well as descriptions of Damascus and the ancient waterworks, while those from the third period show the works on the Nahr-al-Kalb in full swing and describe an inspection of the site by Rustem Pasha, Governor-General of the Lebanon. - The frontispiece shows a portrait of Maxwell with his reproduced signature. Binding discreetly rebacked, modern cloth hinges. Light foxing near the beginning; otherwise in excellent condition. Rare: OCLC lists only five copies internationally (2 in the US, 3 in the UK). OCLC 24929041.
8vo. 2 parts in one volume. CXII, 256, (2), 136 (Arabic) pp. (2nd part interleaved). Contemporary papered boards with giltstamped spine label (chipped). All edges red. A Göttingen student's hand-annotated copy: the final edition of the venerable Arabic grammar first published by Erpenius in 1613, the work that dominated Western instruction in the Arabic language for two centuries. This copy was owned by the poet and pastor Hermann Bredenkamp (1760-1808), a native of Bremen, who had taken up his studies of theology and oriental languages at Göttingen in 1780. Among his teachers was not only Michaelis himself, but also the great Swedish orientalist Matthias Norberg (1747-1826), who in 1781 passed through Göttingen on his return journey from Constantinople, visiting Michaelis. Bredenkamp's annotations in the book's margins frequently refer to Norberg's personal comments on the grammatical matter and especially on the pronunciation of modern vernacular Arabic of Morocco. On the interleaves of the Arabic chrestomathy, Bredenkamp has occasionally noted vocabulary and word references, but this part does not appear to have been worked through in detail, and it is the grammar in which the most extensive annotations occur, all written in ink in Bredenkamp's meticulous and minute hand. - By the 18th century, Erpenius's grammar had seen several re-issues (with various amendments) by Deusing (1636), Golius (1656), and Schultens (1748 and 1767), before the Biblical scholar Michaelis produced a German translation in 1771. The present second edition, published a decade later, entirely omits the name of Erpenius: "owing to the many additions (for the greater part unneccessary according to Schnurrer) the work may now be called Michaelis' own" (Smitskamp, p. 278). This, of course, was the grammar of choice at the University of Göttingen under Michaelis' tutelage. It was not until 1810 that Silvestre de Sacy's "Grammaire Arabe" would produce an actual advance in the field. - Binding rubbed, extremeties severely bumped. Bredenkamp's handwritten ownership (dated 1781) to front flyleaf; title-page has early 19th century stamped ownership of G. J. Lorent. Schnurrer p. 83f., no. 120. Smitskamp, PO 283. Fück p. 65 & cf. 119f. For Norberg's stay in Göttingen cf. Chatzipanagioti-Sangmeister, p. 80.
Oblong folio. (15) ff. With 5 ink wash drawings, 4 pencil drawings, 4 coloured pencil drawings, 1 pen drawing painted with watercolours, 1 pen drawing, 1 coloured lithograph and 1 photograph, all in various formats, on (12) pp. Contemporary green morocco binding, cover giltstamped with crowned monogram "PA". All edges gilt. Includes a loose pencil portrait of a young lady (192 x 262 mm) and a photograph of a castle pasted on the free endpaper. Charming collection of sketches and watercolours, including a pen-drawn genre piece with soldiers (ca. 222 x 174 mm) by the French painter André Dutertre, member of the Institut d'Égypte, and the portrait of a soldier in pencil (ca. 138 x 194 mm) by Claude Vaulot (1818-42), both signed. Dutertre is best known for his portraits of military men, especially in connection with Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, in which he participated. Of particular interest are four orientalist landscape drawings and four character studies of portraits from Kabylia (Algeria). These unsigned pieces are probably connected with the 1830 "Éxpédition de Médéa", part of the French conquest of Algeria. They include a pencil drawing of a road near Medea, a pencil drawing of a source near Mouzaïa, where a battle took place on 21 November 1830, an ink wash drawing of a military encampment in Kabylia, and the portrait of a Kabylian marabout, or holy man. This small portrait is arranged on one page with the other three portraits, two Kabyle women and one man, and a well-executed ink wash drawing of a landscape in Kabylia with the tombs of two marabouts. The collection is completed by a charming lithographed invitation to a puppet play "Theatre de Polichinelle", signed "Nouvian", a photo collage of political caricatures with a written legend, an ink wash of a peasant woman, signed "J. Chastenet", and a watercolour of a group of soldiers marching to war, their wives wringing their hands. - The photo collage is strongly faded, some pages with minor tears and foxing but all drawings and the lithograph well preserved. Spine and edges of binding scuffed.
92 x 126 cm. Scale: 1:1,000. Whiteprint on thick paper. Title, scale and compass executed in manuscript in blue pen. Impressive plan of the excavation site of Tell Halaf (now on the Syrian-Turkish border), the location of the great ancient Aramaean town of Guzana, and one of the most important archaeological revelations of the modern era. Then in the Ottoman Empire, it was discovered in 1899 by the German diplomat Max von Oppenheim (1860-1946) while travelling through northern Mesopotamia on behalf of Deutsche Bank, working on establishing a route for the Bagdad Railway. - This is a working copy of the official, authoritative plan of the site produced during the 1911-13 excavation led by Oppenheim, printed at Tell Halaf for the use of the senior archaeological team. Signed in the upper right-hand corner by Theodor Dombart (1884-1969), a professional architect and one of Oppenheim’s principal associates, later an esteemed professor of ancient Middle Eastern architecture and an authority on Munich history. - A little worn, slight toning along old folds, else very good.
25 stamps (42 x 50 to 52 x 65 mm) mounted on 6 printed album sheets (250 x 170 mm). Loosely inserted within an envelope in a full cloth album with the name and insignia of the Persian Gulf Command. Jubilee stamps issued on the occasion of the celebration of the Persian Empire's 2,500-year anniversary, from a collector's album. Including portraits of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his father, Shah Reza Pahlavi, they also feature architectural landmarks and artefacts such as the Pahlavi crown, the Cyrus Cylinder, and a section of the Bishapur mosaic, as well as the coronation of Shahinshah Aria Mehr of the Kingdom of Yemen. The festivities were to celebrate Iran's ancient civilization and history and to showcase the country's contemporary progress under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. - Album slightly rubbed at extremities. Vertical tear to 4 sheets, not touching stamps. A few stamps with traces of postmarks; one stamp loose. An appealing set.
Royal folio (375 x 488 mm). VII, (1), 204, VIII pp. With 64 plates (46 full-page, 17 half-page and 1 folding), mostly engraved after Ludwig Christian Fuhrmann, some after drawings by the author; 8 engraved text vignettes, 1 engraved tughra as headpiece; lithographed dedication. Modern half calf over contemporary marbled boards with printed title label on spine. First edition. - The very rare original edition of this important account of a journey through Turkey and Asia Minor. According to Brunet the finest publication ever to leave a Polish press, it was soon translated into German as "Malerische Reise in einigen Provinzen des Osmanischen Reichs" (last sold for £20,400 at Sotheby's 2004 Natural History and Travel Sale; no copy of the present original edition has appeared at German auctions during the last decades). - The Polish statesman Count Edward Raczynski (1786-1845), a patron of the arts and founder of the Raczynski Library in Poznan, travelled to Constantinople by way of Odessa during the months of July through November 1814. He was accompanied by the artist Ludwig Christian Fuhrmann (1783-1829), and most of the plates are engraved after his drawings. Raczynski also visited the Troad, the peninsula containing the ruins of Troy, of which a detailed description is given. This beautifully illustrated work is highly sought after for its many detailed engravings, including a folding map of Istanbul, illustrations of the ruins of Troy and Assos, the bay of Lesbos, a portrait of Sultan Muhammad IV, the mosque of the Sultan, etc. - In the present set, most of the plates are early or proofs prints, still lacking numbers and/or captions, which are frequently supplied in meticulous pencil calligraphy (in Polish and English). Leaves of pp. 1/2 and 3/4 transposed; the former bound showing page 2 before 1. Interior severely browned throughout as common. Tears to title and dedication repaired; a few edge flaws due to brittleness of paper. Only 5 copies of this original edition listed in library catalogues internationally (BL, BnF, LoC, Stabi Berlin, NL Sweden). Brunet IV, 20412. Weber 133 (note). Not in Atabey. Cf. Blackmer 1375 (1824 German edition).
4to. 2 vols. XXIV, 446, XXIII, (3) pp. VII, (1), 430, XXXIV, (26) pp. With engraved frontispiece and 20 numbered engraved plates (5 of which folded) on 19 sheets. Contemporary full calf with giltstamped spine labels. All edges red. Second edition of this authoritative account of Aleppo and Ottoman life and manners, based on Russell's experience as physician to the British factory in Aleppo from 1740 to 1753. Enlarged with 3 additional plates compared to the 1756 first edition. Includes an engraved frontispiece with a view of the city, a plan by Carsten Niebuhr (vol. I, plate I), and an additional plate showing fish (vol. II, plate VI). Apart from the Syrian flora and fauna as well as the local climate, Russell's monograph discusses the everyday life of the local population, including that of European merchants living in Aleppo, the organisation of their trade activity, and their social life. Also includes a section on the plague and other epidemic diseases in the 1740s. The descriptions of the education system, of the production of manuscripts, and of the commercial activity in Syria are unusually detailed and can be considered unique in contemporary travel literature on the Ottoman Empire (cf. Chatzipanagioti-Sangmeister). The botanical plates were produced by G. D. Ehret, and one plate of fish bears the name of W. Skelton, while the remainder of plates, including the ones depicting birds and domestic life, are unsigned, but were probably produced by Russell himself. - Binding lightly scuffed; interior fresh and extremely well preserved. A charmingly bound set documenting an era of scientific and economic prosperity in Syria. Blackmer 1458. Nissen BBI 3534. Navari 1458. Cox I, 227. Chatzipanagioti-Sangmeister 893. ESTC T149605. Cf. Atabey 1064 (1762 Dutch edition).
Small 4to. 93, (1); 8 pp., 1 blank leaf, (2), 111, (1) pp, 1 blank leaf. Contemporary half calf with handwritten spine-label. Marbled endpapers. First edition of the reformed Penal Code of Tunisia according to the "decret du 9 Julliet 1913 (5 Chabân 1331)", parts of which remain in force to this day. Includes the Arabic text. - Occasional light fingerstaining; a few pencil annotations. Binding rubbed; extremeties somewhat bumped. Very rare: only 3 copies listed on OCLC (Harvard; Tübingen; Beit el Bennani Collection Tunis), all records noting the French text only and apparently without the Arabic section. OCLC 80710987.
A total of some 50 items, in all over 300 handwritten, typescript and printed pages. Various sizes, but mostly 4to. Extraordinary corpus of Hebrew records reflecting the struggle of the Yemenite Jews to emigrate and settle in Israel following Operation Magic Carpet in 1949/50. Includes several letters from the early 1960s written to Eretz Israel by members of the Yemeni community in Aden, regarding the arrangement of their emigration, as well as an important document related to protests by Yemenite Jews living in the Nordia neighborhood of Tel Aviv against the construction of the Dizengoff Center and the demolition of their homes. Additional documents relate to the slum organization in Israel, as well as to author Zvi Medina, giving the names and addresses of Medina family members and recording the 1960 construction of the synagogue in the Hatikva neighborhood for the Jews of Aden. - Printed publications include a Passover Haggadah according to the text of the Yemenite Jews, with ink stamp of "Ein Shemer Camps", as well as the version approved by Saadia Gaon and Maimonides (Jerusalem 1951), its title-page designed by Haim Ben Shalom Mahbbub. Also, a donation printed for Hanukkah 1944 by the Yemenite Jewish Unity Committee, titled "Raising your candles remember your brother's darkness", compiled by Rabbi Shalom, son of Rabbi Yichya Yitzchak Levi, as well as New Year's songs and two Kol Koreh texts regarding the election of the new Yemeni commission committee, as well as the strengthening of the independent educational institutions for the Yemenite Community. - A well-preserved survival.
Folio (ca. 260 x 320 mm). 2 vols. (instead of 9). (6), X, (2), 114, (4) pp. (2), 115-227, (5) pp. Contemporary unsophisticated wrappers with handwritten titles to upper covers. The first two parts of this chronicle by Paul Zaim of Aleppo (1627-69), an Ottoman Syrian Orthodox archdeacon. Son of Patriarch Macarios III Zaim, Paul accompanied his father in his travels throughout Constantinople, Wallachia, Moldavia, Ukraine and Russia, as an attempt to raise funds and support for their church. Paul's account of his visits, originally written in Arabic, is important as a source on Wallachia, as it documents the main events of Constantin Serban's rule and the Ottoman expedition of 1657. - Published for the Oriental Translation Fund of Great-Britain and Ireland, by R. Bentley, this copy with special half-titles printed for the subscriber Sir Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa (1770-1846), then styled the 12th Earl of Cassilis. Seven additional parts would appear by 1836. - Dedication-leaf waterstained. Bindings chipped, occasional light flaws to the wide margins. Old library stamp of the Community of the Resurrection. Untrimmed copy. OCLC 14123266.
Oblong 4to. [70] gray, white and blue album ff., containing 67 sketches with accompanying manuscript captions and descriptions. 66 sketches in pen & ink and pencil, mostly signed by Blackwell, depicting Swiss, Burmese and Indian panoramas and domestic scenes, buildings, events, animals and inhabitants, mounted and bound in, most accompanied by manuscript captions and descriptions by Blackwell and sometimes by a later hand. There is also 1 print (ca. 1795/1800?) showing a "rhahan" (priest) drawn by Singey Bey and engraved by Thomas Medland. Half black morocco, black decorated paper sides, gold-tooled ornaments on spine. Sketchbook by the English lieutenant Thomas Eden Blackwell (1803?-45), showing views of India, Burma, and Switzerland, made in the years 1826-30, when India, which is the subject of about 30 of the sketches, and parts of Burma (now Myanmar) were British colonies. The sketches, mostly signed and dated by Blackwell, are mounted on album leaves and accompanied by manuscript captions and descriptions, also by Blackwell and sometimes by a later hand. Some of these remarks are general or contain interesting facts, while others are very personal or describe an event that happened during Blackwell's time as officer. - Blackwell drew some panoramic views and buildings (for example an Indian mosque or a narrow street in Calcutta), but he pays particular attention to Indian culture in his sketches of India and the accompanying explanations. He sketches the Indian population, animals, and scenes representing the everyday life of Indian people. Several animal sketches are exceptionally beautiful, including that of a horse (with notes about Arabian horses). He also draws a camel, compares camels to dromedaries, and outlines the habitat of both species in India. Also included are many sketches of Indian cattle, such as bullocks, which were used as water-carriers, and Bengal cows (whose milk is said to be "inferior" to that of English cows). - Blackwell also drew the inhabitants of the Indian places he visited, including a priest ("rhahan") and an Indian watchman ("chokedar"), but also a "Musselman" and an Indian woman, with remarks concerning the attitude of Indian men towards women. Of particular interest are the Indian "sceneries", as Blackwell calls them, showing the everyday life of Indian people: native cooking, but also how Indian people bathe in Hooghly river, how they wash their clothes, and men smoking a so-called "hubble bubble" (a hookah or water pipe). Blackwell annotatioins to nearly all these sketches provide the reader with rare insights into Indian culture. - of Burma (now Myanmar) fewer sketches were made, and they focus mostly on the coasts and the city of Rangoon's wharfs. These include the royal wharf at Rangoon, with a whole page of explanatory text on the facing page, and a sketch showing a stockade in Burma, where, according to Blackwell's caption, the British killed the Burman general Maha Bundoola (1782-1825) in the First Anglo-Burmese War. Yet there is also a sketch of the so-called Great Bell in Rangoon, which is representative of Burmese bells, which are often located near celestial buildings. The album also includes two views of Tobago in the West Indies: a large two-page panoramic view and a sketch of the government house in Tobago with a garrison in the background; Blackwell's note states that his daughter Eliza was born there on 25 January 1833. - Another part of the sketchbook comprises sketches of Swiss landscapes and panoramas, especially of the region surrounding Basel (of which Blackwell also includes a two-page panoramic view). - With owner's inscription on the front pastedown: "Lieut. Blackwell 13th Light Infantry. Indian, Burmese and Swiss Sketches". Binding a little worn, one quire loose, some occasional spots and somewhat browned, but not affecting the drawings. In good condition.
Large 4to. (4), III, (3), 29, (1) pp; (2), 32, 42, 6 pp. Modern wrappers. Rare edition of the seventh chapter of the "Anvari Suhaili", a Persian fable, in Farsi, English and Arabic, with Arabic tables, analysis of the Arabic words, and the "Kalila Dumna", the Arabic version of the same chapter by 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mukaffa. Designed by Charles Stewart (1764-1837), professor of oriental languages at the East India College at Hailey, Hertfordshire, to help civil servants and military men in the service of the East India Company learn Persian. - A few page corners creased, occasional light soiling. With extensive pencil annotations from contemporary use; contemporary ink ownership of H. L. Dick to the title-page. As vol. 7 of Alexander's East India Magazine and Colonial and Commercial Journal reports under the Company's civil appointments, in January 1834 "Mr. H. L. Dick, writer [= administrator], has exceeded the period allowed for the Study of the Native Languages, and has been directed to return to England" (p. 103). Chauvin II, p. 27, no. 47. OCLC 891514783.
8vo. With 8 woodcut tailpieces. Later mottled calf, red spine labels, red edges. Rare edition of the collected works of Luis de Camões, including Os Lusiadas and three Rimas. In the same year, Antonio Craesbeeck published another edition with the same title but with less content and with a different frontispiece. This collection of works is made up of separate publications. - Os Lusiadas is the great epic poem of Portuguese exploration, in the original Portuguese, a monument of Portuguese literature that gave a Homeric aura to Renaissance voyages of discovery and colonial conquests, here together with the other works of Camões. Camões's work was first published in Portuguese at Lisbon in 1572. - In the early 1530s the great Portuguese historian, João de Barros, most famous for his Decadas de Asia, had called for an epic poem of Portuguese exploration and discovery. Luis de Camões (1524-80) answered that call four decades later. Camões was educated in a monastic school in Coimbra, and produced poetry and plays at an early age. In his early twenties he was banished from Lisbon after producing a play considered disparaging to the royal family. He served as a soldier in the Portuguese forces besieging Ceuta in North Africa, where he lost an eye. Camões returned to Lisbon in 1550, but found himself in more trouble, and was pardoned by the King on condition that he serve the Crown in India for five years. He arrived at Goa in late 1553 and stayed there briefly before joining an expedition to the Malabar Coast. Later he participated in a campaign against pirates on the shores of Arabia. In 1556 he left Goa again for the East Indies, taking part in the military occupation of Macao, where he remained for many months. On his return trip to India, he was shipwrecked off the Mekong and wandered in Cambodia before reaching Malacca and eventually returning to Goa. He did not return to Lisbon until 1570. The Lusiads gives a fine description not only of Portuguese exploits in the East, but also of the flora and fauna of Asia and India, the ethnographic details of the peoples there, and the geography of the region, informed by Camões's own experiences as well as his familiarity with Ptolemy and Barros. - With the bookplate of "Aulo-Gélio", 1961, with a view of Lisbon. The first few pages slightly worn with some repairs. Stained throughout. Some contemporary annotations in ink in the margins. Bibliotheca Lusitana p. 62. Inocêncio XIV, 78. José de Canto, 37.