[East India Company].MareMagnum
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Small folio (232 x 280 mm). 36 ff. Contemporary marbled wrappers. All edges gilt. The Regulating Act of 1773, published in Persian and English on opposite pages. - British interest in Persia and the Arabian Gulf originated in the 16th century and steadily increased as British India’s importance rose in the 18th century. In the beginning, the agenda was primarily of a commercial character: realizing the region's significance, the British fleet supported Shah Abbas in expelling the Portuguese from Hormuz in 1622. In return, the British East India Company was permitted to establish a trading post in the coastal city of Bandar 'Abbas, which became their principal port in the Gulf. The Company became responsible for conducting British foreign policy in the region, and concluded various treaties, agreements and engagements with Gulf states. In 1763 the EIC established a permanent residency at Bushehr, on the Persian side of the Gulf. By the early 1770s, the East India Company was in severe financial straights due both to corruption and nepotism as well as from steeply declining tea sales to America and heavy annual payments made to maintain the trading monopoly. When approached for assistance, the government enacted legislation to supervise ("regulate") the activities of the Company. This "Act for establishing certain Regulations for the better Management of the Affairs of the East India Company" constituted the first step toward eventual British government control of India, thus radically limiting the role of EIC in the administration of India. In 1784, little more than a decade later, Pitt's India Act would take reforms even further. - Another issue in the same year is known, with identical typesetting, but in which each page of text is enclosed within an engraved frame (these copies are printed in a taller folio format ). Slight edge repairs; spine restored. From the library of William Aldersey, president of the board of trade in Bengal, with his ownership (dated 1774) to recto of f. 1. ESTC T145421. OCLC 560572771.
Engraved map of the Indian Ocean, Indian subcontinent and most of the Gulf region (28 x 39 cm; margins extended to 50 x 66.5 cm), at a scale of about 1:13,500,000 with north at the foot, with the equator reticulated with longitudes based on a prime meridian through Cape Verde, reticulated scales of latitude in the left and right borders, the Tropic of Cancer not reticulated; 3 sea monsters, a spouting whale and 3 ships in the ocean; and on the land elephants, lions and 2 people on horseback carrying spears. Rare very early engraved map showing the Indian subcontinent, the Strait of Hormuz, the eastern half of the Gulf, and the Indian Ocean, including the islands of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the Maldives, Seychelles, the western tip of Sumatra and what must be the eastern tip of Somalia. The island Diego Garcia (7° S), labelled "Isole de Don Garzia", touches the southern edge of the map image. The map's own scales indicate that it covers 35°N to 9°S and 60 to 120°E (labelled 85 to 145°E following the Cape Verde prime meridian), but in fact it covers about 60 to 96°E. It is double trapezoidal projection, but tapers only slightly from its widest point at the equator. Many topographic names appear in forms used in early Portuguese accounts of voyages, but most can be identified. In India and Ceylon we find Goa, Mangalor (Mangalore), Cochin (Kochi), Calinapata (Calcutta?), Besinagar (Bangalore), Colmucho (Colombo) and many others; in the Gulf region Cor. Dulfar (Dhofar), the island Macira (Masirah), C. Resalgate (Ras el Had?), Galatia (the ancient site Qalhat), Mazcate (Muscat), the island Quexumo (Qeshm) and Ormus (Hormuz). There is even an unlabelled city close to present-day Abu Dhabi. Two of the ships are labelled with their destinations: Calicut (Kozhikode) on the Malabar Coast and Molucche (the Moluccas) in the East Indies. - Gastaldi first published a similar map as one of a set of three woodcut maps in the first volume of the second edition of Giovanni Battista Ramusio,Navagationi et viaggi, Venice, 1554: the "Prima tavola" shows Africa, the "Seconda tavola" shows the regions in the present map and the "Terza tavola" shows Southeast Asia and the East Indies. These were a great advance on earlier maps, including even Gastaldi's own, taking account of new information from Portuguese explorers. - The woodblocks and whatever copies of the printed edition had not yet been sold were destroyed by a fire in 1557, so for the 1563 edition the publisher had the three maps engraved on copperplates by Niccolo Nelli. Bertelli published the three maps without Ramusio's text, and his maps are usually supposed to have been printed from the 1563 plates, but Karrow describes them as close copies, with his name and the date 1565 added in each map, and Bertelli was an engraver as well as a publisher. Although the first map also has a longer note referring to all three maps, they were probably issued separately as well. Although printed from a single copper plate, the present map image is divided into two parts, with a 7 mm gap between the right and left halves, so that nothing would be lost if the map were bound as a double-page plate. No later state is noted in the literature, so there may have been multiple printings with the unrevised plate. - The present copy is printed on a whole sheet of paper, watermarked: coat of arms (77 x 44 mm) bearing a tree on the central and highest of three hills = --, with about 38.5 mm between chainlines except that the mark is centred on a chainline only 25 mm from the adjacent ones. The tree clearly matches the style of the oak tree in the arms of the family Delle Rovère, including the Popes Sixtus IV and Julius II (who served 1471-1484 and 1503-1513), but their arms does not include the hills. The present mark is very close to Briquet 969 (Lucca 1573-1582) and Zonghi 1737 (Fabriano 1571). Likhachev 3636 (an Italian manuscript f ca. 1570) is not as close. All similar marks noted in the literature date from the period 1569 to 1582, so the present map seems unlikely to have been printed in 1565, but very likely to have been printed ca. 1570 (Bertelli remained active to ca. 1580 or perhaps even later). Bifolco & Ronca lists copies of the 1563 (84a) and the present 1565 (84b) state or edition together, but their separate lists of references suggest the present 1565 version is much rarer. - The margins have been cut down close to the plate edge and in places to the outer edge of the border, and the margins then greatly extended (10-14 cm) with blank paper, but this paper is also contemporary, watermarked: coat of arms bearing a ladder and topped with a 6-point star (90 x 27 mm) = --, similar to Likachev 3524 (Loreto 1564). The map is very slightly browned at the edges (where the pieces of paper used to extend the margins were pasted together) and in the gap between the right and left halves (where the old fold has been reinforced on the back), but the map is otherwise in fine condition. A milestone in the cartography of India and the Gulf States, remarkably well preserved. Bifolco & Ronca, Cartografia topografia Italiana, 84b. Gole, Early printed maps of India, 2. Karrow 30/74.2.
Folio (212 x 333 mm). Publisher's original blue printed boards, black cloth spine hand-lettered. Appendices to the annual "Administration Report" on the Gulf region which the British Political Residents submitted to the Indian Viceroy and Governor. The bland official title belies the true value of the series, which has been called "a mine of information on the development of the modern Gulf" (Cambridge Archive Editions). Regularly the reports contain political details of the local sheikhdoms as well as trade information. - The present appendix volume contains the meteorological tables for the year 1896/97 as well as, crucially, the year's trade reports for the entire Gulf region. The issue notes widespread lower trade revenues, which it diagnoses as due to an Indian plague and subsequent quarantines of port cities, as well as ongoing political unrest in Qajar Iran following the assassination of the Shah, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, the previous year. The volume provides carefully detailed charts of imports and exports for Bushire, Lingah, Bunder Abbas, Bahrain, the Arab Coast of the Gulf, and Shiraz. Though most exports dropped, the value of Bahrain's in fact had gone up since the previous year, with its most valuable exports being coffee, rice, and printed cottons to Turkey and the especially valuable export of pearls to India. On the Arabian Gulf Coast, principal exports were, again, pearls, though these were largely bound to "Persian ports". Those on the Arab Coast also benefitted from the mother o' pearl shell trade, one of the least impacted by the upheavals of India and Qajar Iran. - The "Administration Report on the Persian Gulf" was published under various titles annually between 1875 and 1957. Original specimens are almost unobtainable in the trade. - Provenance: removed from the London Library, with their printed label on the upper cover and their stamps (in blind and printed) on title-page and final leaf, accompanied by cancel stamps. Macro, p. xii (s.v. "RAPA": Report on the Administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency). OCLC 224558510. ZDB-ID 768652-3. Cf. the 1989 Cambridge Archive Editions reprint.
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.
Oblong quarto. 371 photographs in 3 albums: 1) 121 original photographs ranging from small (70 x 100 mm) to medium (111 x 170 mm) and large (170 x 235 mm), mounted on 18 leaves (230 x 315 mm); 2) 178 original photographs ranging from small (70 x 50 mm) to medium (95 x 140 mm) and large (160 x 220 mm), mounted on 24 leaves (195 x 280 mm); 3) 72 original photographs ranging from small (65 x 90 mm) to medium (120 x 185 mm) and large (160 x 220 mm), mounted on 14 leaves (220 x 315 mm). Most photographs with manuscript captions beneath in white chinagraph pencil. With 6 additional photographs and a swimming certificate loosely inserted. Contemporary card covers with cord ties. Large collection of important photographs depicting RAF activity in Iraq during the late 1930s, demonstrating British imperial power by use of "Air Control": a policy designed to maintain the RAF as the independent third service of the British armed forces and enforce British imperial rule economically through the use of air power. - The current collection of photographs centres around the activities of 70 Squadron, providing heavy transport facilities and air ambulances and operating airmail routes between Cairo and Baghdad. Images include an armoured car with a mounted machine gun at Hinaidi; air-conditioned desert buses belonging to Nairn Transport Co going from Baghdad to Damascus, and the Flying Boat "Ceres" on Lake Habaniyah. The dangers of the operations are evident in the photos of a crash of the Flying Boat "Calpurnia" in Lake Habaniyah with the loss of five lives, the crash of Jonah Kyte No. 3 while landing, and the "Vincent" of 55 Squadron going up up in flames in Simel. The album captures well the cultural and military diversity of Iraq at the time. Not only are there bombers from the French Air Force on visit in both Dhibban and Habbaniya, but there are also photos of Iraqi "Gladiator" aircraft, Jewish women in Baghdad, and the Kurdish population spread across central Iraq. A 500-year-old church in Haiz is complemented by the photo of a priest with a 700-year-old Bible. As a foreigner abroad, the photographer gives the albums their healthy dose of tourist sites such as Alexandria (Egypt), the landscapes of Ser Amadia (while in a Summer Training Camp) and Ctesiphon Arch (530 CE). Aerial shots add bird's-eye views of the Golden Mosque of Khadimain (Baghdad), the crossing of the Suez Canal, and the Maude Bridge over the Tigris. The international and geopolitical importance of the photographs is further underscored in their documentation of the first Hinaidi-Singapore flight on 18 January 1937. - Extremities of albums slightly rubbed. 1 loose photograph creased at edge. A well preserved ensemble.
Folio (288 x 351 mm). 192 pp., profusely illustrated throughout, with 48 full-page Woodburytype plates mounted within printed borders on sturdy cardboard, 24 mounted Woodburytype plates in the text, and 2 plates printed in red. Bound in sumptuous red morocco for Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, elaborately giltstamped on spine and both covers. Leading edges gilt, inner dentelle gilt, marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. A striking collection of 72 woodburytype portraits of great artists and reproductions of their art, with accompanying biographical sketches, issued in undated instalments, then bound for and dedicated to Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 to 1879. The portraits include famous authors and officers such as Victor Hugo, Thiers, Georges Sand, Sarah Bernhardt, Alexander Dumas fils, Gounod, Daudet, Erckmann-Chatrian, Mac-Mahon, Coppée, Jules Janin, Velpeau etc. - but also Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French engineer whose Suez Canal was constructed and opened under Ismail's khedivate. The photographs are by Mulnier, Nadar, Carjat, Petit, and others, and printed by Goupil. The woodburytype is a photomechanical process capable of reproducing the continuous tones of photography with pigmented gelatin molded to a varying thickness. The speed and economy of woodburytypes, as well as their permanence (unlike traditional photographic processes that were subject to fading), made them a highly practical substitute for albumen silver prints in book publication or other situations where mass production was desirable. - Occasional slight foxing, but very well preserved altogether. The upper cover of the luxuriant red morocco binding bears the dedication: "A Son Altesse Ismaïl Pacha Khédive d'Égypte". Sharing the ambitious outlook of his grandfather, Muhammad Ali Pasha, Ismail greatly modernized Egypt and Sudan during his reign, investing heavily in industrial and economic development, urbanisation, and the expansion of the country's boundaries in Africa. OCLC 17984963. Cf. Lucien Goldschmidt and Weston J. Naef, The Truthful Lens (1980).
40 volumes, mainly 4to. Mostly printed in the second half of the 18th century, the present collection includes the works of the principal Swedish orientalists of their time, mainly teaching and publishing at the universities of Uppsala and Lund, many by the great Matthias Norberg (1747-1826). Among the topics covered are medicine in the Middle East, history, linguistics and literature, education, and the learnedness of Middle Eastern rulers. - Detailed list of all titles available upon request.
8vo (148 x 90 mm). Illuminated Arabic manuscript on paper, 243 leaves plus 2 fly-leaves, complete. 19 lines per page, written in a neat Naskhi script in black ink with diacritics in red, margins ruled in gold and colours. Gold discs or florets between verses, sura headings written in white within gilt cartouches flanked by panels with alternating floral motifs in gold and various colours. Brown morocco with flap and giltstamped borders and central ornaments. Splendid pocket-size Qur'an. Marginal section markers in white naskh on gold ground within polychrome flower blossom, opening double-page frontispiece richly illuminated in lapis lazuli blue, green, red, pink, and gold, the text within cloud bands in gold. - Hinge tender between the first two pages, some light marginal fingering, otherwise in perfect condition. From the library of the scientists and collectors Crawford Fairbanks Failey (1900-81) and Gertrude Van Wagenen (1893-1978), who performed research at Yale and Johns Hopkins in the fields of medical chemistry and biology.
187 x 276 mm. With a rosette gilt and in gouache colour. Diacritical marks added later in black ink, vocalization marks in red (as well as one in green and one in blue). 5 lines. Well-preserved leaf in monumental Kufic script (line height c. 30 mm), written in dark brown ink. The text is from the middle part of verse 109 of the second Quran sura. The script style belongs to group D (according to Déroche's classification, subtype D.III). Similar examples are usually dated to the 9th century C.E. (cf. François Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition, London 1992. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Vol. I, nos. 25 [p. 76] and 34/35 [p. 84]). The polychromatic rosette shows an inscribed number: The red dots are vocalisation marks; the diacritics (in the form of small slashes) were added later in black ink. - Some browning and staining. Brittle in places due to ink corrosion (minor defects to vellum). Verso rubbed, but still legible. Cf. Fingernagel (ÖNB 2010), p. 33.
4to (170 x 266 mm). Persian and Chagatay Turkish manuscript on polished laid paper. 158 ff. 14 lines of black Naskhi script, set in two columns within gilt borders and black, blue, and red rules; chapter headings in red ink. Prettily illustrated throughout with 28 coloured gouaches (of which 11 are half- to full-page-sized). Margins decorated with gilt scrollwork. Near-contemporary full brown binding with blind-tooled borders and medallion stamps to both covers. Highly rare, charmingly illustrated 18th century manuscript of the story of Yusuf and Zulaikha, which forms the medieval Islamic version of the narrative of the prophet Yusuf and Potiphar's wife. In the Muslim world for centuries, it is found in many languages such as Arabic, Persian, Bengali, Turkish and Urdu, but was given its best-known expression in Persian, by Jami, in the 15th century. - Edges brittle with some tears and chipping, quite extensive remarginings (no loss to text, but obscuring some of the gilt scrollwork borders), occasional light waterstaining. Ownership seals and stamps of Ya Cabbar and Habib Allah.
Folio (250 x 310 mm). (28), 586, (2) pp. Contemporary blindstamped full calf; spine rebacked. Second Henricpetri edition of this elaborate system of astrology, edited by Antonius Stupa. Abul Hasan Ali ibn abi Rijal (also known as Haly or Hali, and by the Latinized versions of his name, Haly Albohazen and Haly Abenragel), probably born in Cordoba, flourished in Tunis from ca 1020 to 1040, where he served as court astrologer to Prince Al-Muizz Ibn Badis. His "Distinguished Book on Horoscopes from the Constellations" enjoyed a great reputation, and he was celebrated as "Ptolemaeus Alter" and "summus astrologus". The work was translated from Arabic into Castilian by Judah ben Moses, upon orders of King Alfonso X of Spain, and - in 1485 - from the Castilian into Latin, by Aegidius de Tebaldis and Petrus de Regio. A manuscript copy containing five of the eight books of a translation into Old Castilian by Yehuda ben Moshe Cohen survives in the National Library of Spain. "De Judiciis Astrorum", a Latin translation of the Old Castilian manuscript, was first published in Venice in 1485 and became an important source in Renaissance Europe for the understanding of medieval astrology. - Spine and binding repaired; some duststaining to the first pages. Entirely complete: VD 16 cites 20 ff. of prelims in error; all digitized copies entirely agree with the present specimen. Removed from the Ampleforth Abbey library in North Yorkshire with their bookplate to pastedown. A good copy. VD 16, A 1884. Cf. BM-STC German (1551 ed.). M. H. Fikri, Treasures fron the Arab Scientific Legacy in Europe, Bibliography, no. 26 (1551 ed.). Honeyman I, 54 (editio princeps). Not in Adams.
Folio (55 x 40 cm). Two parts in one volume. Engr. title printed in red and black, list of plates, 24 hand-coloured lithographs. Contemporary French red half roan by Meslant with his stamp at the spine foot, flat spine lettered and tooled in gilt, marbled boards and endpapers. First edition: the hand-coloured copy of the Duke of Orleans, in a signed binding by Meslant, celebrated court binder of the Empire period. The Duke is listed as co-publisher on the engraved title. - Some spotting to text leaves, one plate with old repair in the bottom margin, others repaired in the inside margin, some plates slightly and evenly yellowed. Extremities rubbed, corners scuffed with some surface loss. Provenance: Ferdinand Phillipe, Duke of Orleans (1810-42; title-stamp of his military library). Mennessier de la Lance I, 41. Huth 121.
8vo. 2 vols. VIII, 472, XXXIV. (4), V, (6)-238 pp. With 2 lithogr. frontispieces, 9 lithogr. plates on Chine appliqué and 1 folding lithogr. map of Central Arabia and Egypt. Contemporary tan calf bindings, spines renewed in period style. First edition. The second volume - and the map - are devoted entirely to the so-called "Nedjed Country". - "The first political and commercial treaty between Great Britain and Persia was concluded in 1801, when the East India Company sent John Malcolm to the Court of Fath Ali Shah. Persia undertook to attack the Afghans if they were to move against India, while the British undertook to come to the defence of Persia if they were attacked by either the Afghans or the French. When the Russians intensified their attacks on the Caucasian Provinces in 1803 annexing large territories, Fath Ali Shah appealed to the British for help, but was refused on the grounds that Russia was not included in the Treaty. The Persians thus turned to the French and concluded the Treaty of Finkenstein in 1807. It was against this background that Harford Jones, who was the chief resident at Basra for the East India Company, was sent to Persia by the Foreign Office in 1809 [...] The French who had now entered into a treaty with Russia (the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807) had lost interest in Persia and removed their political and military missions. Thus the British were able to conclude another treaty with Persia (the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, also called the Treaty of Tehran) which bound Britain to assist Persia in case any European nation invaded her (even if Britain had a treaty with that nation). This treaty was not honoured by the British after the first Persian-Russian War" (Ghani). Volume 2 is devoted exclusively to the Wahhabis, tracing their history from the mid-eighteenth century to their defeat by Egyptian Ottoman forces at the site of the Wahhabi capital, Dariyah (Dereyah), in 1818. - Rare: the only other copy in a contemporary binding on the market within the last 30 years was the Burrell copy (wanting half titles and rebacked; Sotheby's, Oct 14, 1999, lot 127, £8,000). Only slightly browned and foxed (occasionally affecting plates), but altogether fresh, in an appealing full calf binding. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 606. BM IV:457 (941). Wilson 33. Cf. Ghani 53f. (reprint). Diba 79.
Large 4to (278 x 228 mm). XVI, 478 pp. With five lithographed maps (one folding). Contemporary full calf with gilt spine, two labels, and cover borders. Gilt inner dentelle, marbled endpapers. All edges marbled. First edition (the second of the same year was in two volumes, octavo). Burckhardt travelled disguised as an Arab, making his notes clandestinely. This work deals primarily with his travels to Mecca and Djidda, Medina and Yembo. The Lausanne-born Burckhardt (1784-1817) was a remarkable character, the first Westerner to visit the Holy Cities. In the guise of a pilgrim "he proceeded to perform the rites of pilgrimage at Mekka, go round the Kaaba, sacrifice, &c., and in every respect acquitted himself as a good Muslim. No Christian or European had ever accomplished this feat before; and the penalty of discovery would probably have been death. [...] Burckhardt possessed the highest qualifications of a traveller. Daring and yet prudent, a close and accurate observer, with an intimate knowledge of the people among whom he travelled, their manners and their language, he was able to accomplish feats of exploration which to others would have been impossible" (Stanley Lane-Poole, in DNB VII, 293f.). - Extremeties quite severely rubbed and bumped. Spine shows traces of early repairs, using the original material. Several tears to the half-title, light foxing to beginning and end, otherwise internally a very good copy from the library of the Rev. Thomas Thurlow (1788-1874), Rector of Boxford, Suffolk, with his engraved bookplate to the front pastedown. Rare. Macro 627. Howgego II, p. 82f., B76. Weber I, 168. Henze I, 407. Gay 3606. Graesse I, 575. Cf. Blackmer 239. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 106. Not in Atabey.
Large folio (456 x 592 mm). Modern half morocco over marbled covers, spine gilt around raised bands with gilt spine title. 9 tinted lithographs on 8 plates (2 on 1 leaf) after Robert Clive. 3 leaves (1 repeat) of letterpress printed on rectos only. First edition of this rare lithographic plate book of Mesopotamian antiquities and views. The first instalment of a total of three, containing nine lithographs: 1. Sculptures at Nimroud-Lions; 2. Moosul; 3. Hît; 4. Distant view of Mount Ararat; 5. Arab encampment near the Birs Nimroud (on one sheet); 6. Sheikh Adi; 7. Baghdad; 8. Roman ruin on the way to Palmyra; 9. Sculptures in the Mount at Nimroud. The Victoria and Albert Museum ascribes this work to the artist Robert Charles Clive (1827-1902). - Original torn and somewhat defective front wrapper laid down on heavy paper and bound into a modern half calf binding; plates and binding fine. The two-page list of plates with descriptions is also laid on heavy paper. OCLC 785146909. Not recorded in Atabey, Blackmer, Tooley, Röhricht or Tobler.
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. (20), 360 pp. Title-page within a border of cast fleurons, woodcut arms of the dedicatee Charles II of Spain, and several woodcut initials and tailpieces. Modern gilt blue morocco by the leading Barcelona binder Emilio Brugalla (1901-87), also active in Madrid, signed at the foot of the front turn-in: "Brugalla 1946", with the arms of the Spanish bibliophile Isidoro Fernandez (1878-1963) stamped in gold on front and back in a blind-stamped panel, double fillets on binding edges and richly gold-tooled turn-ins, gilt edges. First edition of an interesting and detailed account of the first overland journey from Spain to the East Indies (1671-80) made by the Spanish missionary Sebastian Pedro Cubero. Interestingly, Cubero covered most of his route by land, as would later Careri, thus constantly being able to observe the customs, religions, ceremonies and costumes of the peoples he visited, describing them in considerable detail. After spending time in Italy, where he was appointed as a missionary to Asia and the East Indies, Cubero travelled by way of Istanbul and Moscow to Iran, visiting Isfahan ("Hispaham") and Bandar Abbas, after which he finally arrived in India. After crossing to Malacca he was imprisoned by the Dutch and later banished from the city. He then proceeded to the Philippines and ultimately, by way of Mexico, back to Europe. "After a stint as confessor in the imperial army in Hungary, Cubero became one of the notable travellers of the seventeenth century. What set him apart was the variety of his traveller's hats. Most obviously a missionary [...], he also became [...] a representative figure of the whole exploratory enterprise. By circumnavigating the globe in his travels, he was recognized in his own time to be another Magellan, Drake, or Cavendish" (Noonan). - With bookplates on pastedown; t. p. has contemporary ownership of Pere de Ribes-Vallgomera de Boixadors, Marques de Alferras, ennobled by Philip V in 1702. Some occasional foxing and a small restoration, replacing the outer lower corner of the title-page in a subtle facsimile. Very narrow margins, occasionally just shaving the headlines and quire signatures, otherwise in very good condition. Rare in the market: two copies appeared at auction in the last 50 years. Palau 65756. Sabin 17819. OCLC 14110894. Howgego C225. Lach & Van Kley III, 360. Maggs cat. 495, 303. This ed. not in Salvá. For the author cf. F.T. Noonan, The road to Jerusalem: pilgrimage and travel in the age of discovery (2007), p. 104.
4to (157 x 202 mm). (8), 339, (5) pp. With additional engraved title and 2 portraits. Original papered boards with handwritten lettering to spine. First Italian edition of a fascinating and detailed account of the first overland journey from Spain to the East Indies (1671-80) made by the Spanish missionary Sebastian Pedro Cubero. Interestingly, Cubero covered most of his route by land, as would later Careri, thus constantly being able to observe the customs, religions, ceremonies and costumes of the peoples he visited, describing them in considerable detail. After spending time in Italy, where he was appointed as a missionary to Asia and the East Indies, Cubero travelled by way of Istanbul and Moscow to Iran, visiting Isfahan ("Hispaham") and Bandar Abbas, after which he finally arrived in India. After crossing to Malacca he was imprisoned by the Dutch and later banished from the city. He then proceeded to the Philippines and ultimately, by way of Mexico, back to Europe. "After a stint as confessor in the imperial army in Hungary, Cubero became one of the notable travellers of the seventeenth century. What set him apart was the variety of his traveller's hats. Most obviously a missionary [...], he also became [...] a representative figure of the whole exploratory enterprise. By circumnavigating the globe in his travels, he was recognized in his own time to be another Magellan, Drake, or Cavendish" (Noonan). Included are three very three very detailed chapters of devoted to China, Tartary and the Chinese-Tartarian wars. Additionally, there are important discussion of Persia, India, Malacca, the Philippines, and Mexico; chapter XX (pp. 136-156) contains an extensive discussion on Islam, the birth and death of Mohamed and Mecca and Medina. Chapter XXXIII (p. 225-229) contains a discussion of the the Kingdom of Ormuz and Bandar Abbas, the city on the Straits of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. - Bookplate of the New York "Explorers Club" (James B. Ford Library) to pastedown. Old inscriptions to front flyleaf; occasional stains. Lacks lower flyleaf; small tear to corner with loss of some text to fol. O4. This is the only copy of this edition that appears in the auction records over 30 years, no copy in the trade. Howgego C225. Cf. Sabin 17820. Palau 65757. For the author cf. F.T. Noonan, The road to Jerusalem: pilgrimage and travel in the age of discovery (2007), p. 104.
2 volumes. Large 4to (37.5 x 31 cm). With ca. 80 lithographed plates and numerous illustrations and decorations in text, many beautifully coloured by hand and some highlighted with silver and/or gold. [16], 172, [18], [2 blank]; [14], 221, [1 blank], [17], [1 blank] pp. Original publisher's gold-blocked blue cloth, with a coloured hooded hawk on front boards, upper edges gilt, other edges untrimmed. Very rare, limited first and only edition of an exquisitely produced work on falconry and equestrian sports, a showpiece of Dutch art nouveau book illustration. The first volume, on falconry, contains reproductions of the plates from Schlegel and Wulvenhorst's "Traité de fauconnerie" (1844-53), "the finest work on falconry which has ever been produced" (Harting), and opens with a section devoted to the Dutch Prince Alexander van Oranje-Nassau (1818-48), president of the Royal Hawking Club, and ends with a list of terms together with their translation into English, French and German. The second volume treats the equestrian sports in the Netherlands, England, France, Germany and Belgium, with illustrations of races and hunts. Much of the information derived from previously unpublished sources concerning the Dutch Royal family and their horse- and falconry related activities. - It is a separately published follow-up to the ten volume set Het historisch museum van het Korps Rijdende Artillerie (1898-1904), that was published to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Dutch Horse Artillery Corps (The Yellow Riders). The complete series ranks "among the most beautiful military publications in the world" (Sloos). - The book was financed and privately published in a limited number by Nicolaas Jan Adriaan Pieter Helenus van Es (1847-1921), Captain of the Dutch Horse Artillery Corps and amateur painter. He was assisted artistically by Jan Hoynck van Papendrecht (1858-1933), Hendrik Maarten Krabbé (1868-1931), Willem Constantijn Staring (1847-1916). The first was famed for his military art. - With a presentation inscription from the author to Colonel Harhoff dated 1913, in each volume, and with library stamps of the Royal Garrison Library Copenhagen ("Det Kgl. Garnisons Bibliothek i Kiøbenhavn" and "Artillerie bibliothek"). Bindings only slightly scuffed at the foot of the spine, otherwise in very good condition. NCC (4 copies). Sloos, Gewapend met kennis, pp. 376-379. Cf. Harting 194.
Oblong 1mo (48 x 63.5 cm). With 6 tinted lithographed plates by Frisch, with captions in German and French below. The first three in the deluxe issue printed by B. Dondorf, Frankfurt am Main, the last three in the regular issue printed by G. Küstner. Original publisher's letterpress printed wrappers, with a list of subscribers and advertisements on the back of the front wrapper. Extremely rare set of six beautifully lithographed plates showing scenes made on a journey to the Middle East to procure Arabian horses for the Royal Wuerttemberg stud farms, by Friedrich Frisch (1813-86), court painter in Darmstadt. In 1840/41 he accompanied the Wuerttemberg chamberlain Wilhelm von Taubenheim (1805-94), the writer Friedrich Wilhelm Hackländer (1816-77) and the physician Karl Bopp (1817-47) on a journey to the Middle East to procure Arabian horses for the Royal Wuerttemberg stud farms Weil and Marbach. They first went to Constantinople, where they were welcomed by Sultan Abdülmecid I, continuing to Beirut, Damascus and Jerusalem. In Jaffa they met the Ottoman general Ibrahim Pasha. - The set was originally published in two instalments and available in two issues: a deluxe issue printed with a larger tinted background with white highlights (plates 1-3) and a regular issue (plates 4-6). They show: (1) a rider on a dromedary with a letter to Ibrahim Pasha; (2) the camp of Ibrahim Pasha; (3) three Bedouin horse riders; (4) another scene with Bedouins; (5) the group's passage through the Balkans; and (6) a Turkish courier. All views, except the first, include horses. - Hackländer wrote a short text to accompany the set, but it is not included. Two plates slightly soiled in the margins and some tiny tears along the extremities, otherwise in very good condition. Engelmann, Bibliotheca geographica, p. 123. Thieme/Becker XII, p. 491. Not in Dejager; Huth; Mennessier de la Lance; Podeschi. WorldCat (2 copies, incl. 1 with text only).
Large 4to (23 x 28 cm). 2 vols. XII, XXXIV, (2), "681" [= 683], (1 blank) pp. VIII, 978 pp. Contemporary half calf, rebacked with the original backstrips laid down. Rare revised and expanded penultimate edition of a massive navigational directory, with exhaustive information on the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the Arabian (Persian) Gulf. Including detailed entries on Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi ("Abothubbee") and Bahrain, not only covering navigational details, but also the inhabitants, pearl fishery, geography, commerce etc., and shorter entries on islands such Sir Bani Yas, Zirku etc. For this edition expanded from the "extensive surveys along the N.E. coasts of Africa and Arabia, and into the Gulf of Cutch, compiled from the meritorious labours of Captain Haines, Carless, and Sanders, Commander Campbell, Lieutenant Grieve, and other officers of the East-India Company's Marine service" (preface). It was compiled chiefly from recent journals of ships employed by the East India Company, by James Horsburgh (1762-1836), hydrographer and chart maker to the Company. "As hydrographer Horsburgh was primarily responsible for supervising the engraving of charts sent back to London by marine surveyors in India and ordered by the company to be published, and for examining the deposited journals of returning ships for observations which would refine the oceanic navigation charts currently in use, besides other duties of provision of information laid on him by the court" (Cook). The book appeared in a total of eight editions between 1809 and 1864 before being superseded by Findlay's "A directory for the navigation of the Indian Ocean" (1869). - With the seller's ticket of George Sweetser, "dealer in sextants, quadrants, telescopes and compasses, nautical books & charts, …" and the early owner's inscription of "Wm. A. Ordway, Bradford, Mass.". Some browned corners in the opening leaves and some tiny waterstains in the head margin of volume two, otherwise in very good condition. Bindings rubbed and rebacked. Cf. Cat. NHSM, p. 73 (5th ed.); Sabin 33047 (5th ed.). For the author: Cook, "Horsburgh, James (1762-1836)", in: ODNB (online ed.).
Tall 8vo (104 x 220 mm). Arabic manuscript on polished paper. (1), 185, (1) ff. Naskh script in black and occasional red ink, with catchwords and extensive marginal notes in a contemporary hand. 19th century leather, ruled and decoratively stamped in blind. Popular and influential mediaeval Arabic handbook for medical students by the great Damascus anatomist Ibn al-Nafis (1210-88). Long considered a commentary on Avicenna, this is now viewed by scholarship as an original work which also discusses Avicenna's ideas, and thus as "an independent book meant to be a handbook for medical students and practitioners, not as an epitome of Kitab Al-Qanun of Ibn Sina as thought by recent historians" (Abdel-Halim, 2008). One of the author's most widely received works, it provides a useful sum of medical knowledge to aspiring physicians of the mediaeval and early modern periods alike. It was still being copied centuries on from the death of Ibn al-Nafis, who is famous for first describing the pulmonary blood circulation, thereby anticipating by many centuries the efforts of William Harvey. - Not dated by the scribe, but one of the ownership dates on the first leaf is dated Shawwal 1100 AH (July/August 1689 CE), and the date of copying would be estimated around 950 AH, or possibly later. Covers lightly scuffed, interior shows marginal paper repairs and slight trimming to outermost marginal notes. The main text is clean and unmarred. GAL I, 493, 37, 2 & I, 457 (s. v. Ibn Sina). Rabie E. Abdel-Halim, "Contributions of Ibn Al-Nafis (1210-1288 AD) to the Progress of Medicine and Urology. A Study and Translations From his Medical Works", in: Saudi Medical Journal 29.1 (2008), pp. 13-22.
4to (170 x 214 mm). (4), 65, 51 ff. Early 19th century half calf with marbled covers and fore-edge flap. Pink paper pastedowns. The seventh book printed by Ibrahim Müteferrika: a history of Egypt from antiquity to early modern times, prepared by the Turkish scholar Ahmed Süheylî (1562?-1632). The modern section (bound first, as usual) is in fact an Ottoman Turkish translation of the chronicle of the Ottoman-Mamluk war of 1516/17, "Fath Misr" (Tarikh as-sultan Selim al-Utmani ma'a as-sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri) by Ibn Zunbul (d. 1574/75). - Handwritten ownership of the French diplomat Louis Lagarde (dated 1923 CE) to front flyleaf. Occasional light browning and fingerstains, but mostly an excellent copy on good, crisp paper. Özege 19868-19869. GAL S II, p. 409. Toderini III, p. 85, no. VI.
8vo. (6), IV, (16), 69, (3) pp. With 30 engraved plates (some depicting cuts of diamonds) and tables. Contemporary mottled calf with gilt dentelle border and corner fleurons (rubbed); modern spine on 5 raised bands. Rare first edition of the "first book in English to describe how diamonds and pearls can be evaluated on the basis of the factors of size (or weight) and style of cut" (Sinkankas). The London jeweller Jeffries is also the first author to provide "a clear statement of the principle that the value of pearls should be calculated to the square of their weight [...] This principle is implicit in the valuation tables given by earlier authors, including Tavernier and others, but Jeffries is the first to state it explicitly. At the back of his book, he provides tables allowing the calculation of the value of individual and batches of pearls of different size or quality. This is effectively a 'chau' book, as used by merchants in the Gulf and India until the mid-20th century, and fulfils exactly the same function" (Carter). - "The text explains the [diamond] cutting procedure, how the evaluation rules were derived, the importance of imperfections and flaws as affecting price, notes on rough diamonds [...] and finally, a somewhat similar procedure for the valuation of pearls, with highest values accorded to pearls of closest approach to spherical perfection, luster, etc. The mathematical rule used for the pearl is known as the 'square of the weight' multiplied by a per-carat base price" (Sinkankas). - Includes a list of subscribers in the preliminaries. Occasional spotting, a few small stains. Small tape repair to title, plates 5 & 6 with short repaired tears (no loss). Professional repairs to corners; modern spine (repairs including the first inch of the covers); modern endpapers. Removed from the Library of the Birmingham Assay Office, one of the four assay offices in the United Kingdom, with their library stamp to the title-page. Sinkankas 3195. Carter, Sea of Pearls, p. 83, 125f., 251 (with illustrations). Goldsmiths' 8500. Hoover 453 (note). Cf. Roller/G. II, 10.
Oblong royal folio (536 x 445 mm). Engraved title-page, engraved dedication to Ludwig Wilhelm August, Grand Duke of Baden, (4), XX pp. of letterpress text, 25 plates (= 24 lithogr. plates of horse portraits and 1 anatomical plate). Contemporary half calf with handwritten cover label; publisher's original illustrated lithogr. wrappers bound within. First edition, self-published by the author in Karlsruhe, with Ebner's Stuttgart address pasted on the wrapper's upper cover. All that was published of this splendid and rare work about the principal breeds of horses, issued in what must have been a very small press run by Kuntz (1797-1848), Painter to the Court of Karlsruhe, Baden, who is also known for drawing the full-blooded Arabian horses of the Royal Württemberg Stud, the first Arabian stud in Europe. For the present work Kuntz made extensive travels in Hungary, London and Paris to draw his exquisite portraits of Arabian, Persian, Egyptian, Nubian, English and many other thoroughbred horses from life. - Binding professionally repaired at the edges. Interior somewhat foxed and fingerstained. From the officers' library of the Württembergian Uhlan (light cavalry) regiment no. 19. Nissen, ZBI 2328. Thieme/Becker XXII, 116. Wells 4313. Graesse I, 87.
