Ridinger, Johann Elias.MareMagnum
Oblong folio (450 x 336 mm). Letterpress title page (with extensive description on the reverse) and 4 engraved plates. Contemporary blank wrappers, stored in custom-made cardboard portfolio with giltstamped cover label. First edition. A fine series of four elaborately decorated Turkish horses, based on drawings prepared in Constantinople and sent to Ridinger by Baron Gudenus. As stated in the letter from Constantinople, dated 7 March 1741 and printed on the reverse of the title page, the Ottoman dignitaries could be distinguished by the various kinds of luxurious cloths, jewels, and finery they applied to their stables. The officials would vie with each other for the most splendid equestrian adornments, often showering their animals with gold and silver, diamonds, silk, and delicate embroideries. At a state reception in 1740, the Sultan was reported to have shown a parade of 30 horses, each covered in a different kind of precious stone. Such a horse laden with ornament, led into the seraglio by a Janissary, is pictured in plate I: four ostrich feathers adorn the head (a distinction afforded only to the Sultan's personal stable), while the chest bears a splendid rosette belt. Plate II shows a rising "Divani", such as is ridden by the Grand Vizier when dressed in state, with silver chains jingling from its halter and an embroidered blanket under the saddle. Plate III shows another Divani (titled "du coté gauche", but a rare variant imprint from front right), with different bridle and blanket; an elaborately tooled gilt thong is strapped across the chest. The final plate IV shows the "cheval de main d'un Pacha" besides a large kiosk, with a long blanket, rich silver and gemstone decoration and two leopard skins. - Some fingerstaining in the margins, but well preserved. Thienemann 594-597.
8vo. 36 ff., printed on rectos only. Original printed wrappers with oval portrait of the author in Arabic costume. Stapled. First edition, very rare. Extraordinary guide to the Kingdom of Hejaz, "the most frequented pilgrim country in the world" (f. 36). It comprises accounts of Jeddah and Mecca and includes a chapter on King Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud (1875-1953), "undoubtedly the strongest and ablest ruler Arabia has produced for many many years" (f. 29). - Describing the journey from Egypt across the Red Sea, the booklet discusses the travel documents required to enter Hejaz, as well as the enormous economic benefit of the pilgrimage to the Kingdom, and gives a report of the crossing from Suez to Jeddah including stops at El Tor, "the most attractive and beautiful of the Red Sea towns" (f. 11), Wedja and Yambo. It includes a description of the Mount Sinai monastery as well as the wrecked pilgrim ship "Asia", which caught fire in the Jeddah port in 1929. On the one hand deeming Jeddah "a place for work and no play" (p. 24), the guide laments the prohibition of alcohol, cigarettes and gramophones, as well as the lack of hotels, cafés, restaurants, cinemas, and fresh water, and criticises the general state of many houses in the city. On the other hand, the booklet admires the low crime rate of Hejaz as well as recent improvements in public transportation. An uncommonly frank account of a Westerner's stay in Hejaz, not hesitating to speak out on the hardships of pilgrimage. - Covers loosened; somewhat soiled. A few pages slightly wrinkled. Contemporary ownership inscribed to title-page in blue ballpoint. Not a single copy traceable in libraries worldwide.
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).
4to. XII, 536 pp. With a French and a Latin title-page and 2 woodcut title-vignettes. Arabic types. Later red half calf with giltstamped spine and spine-title. First edition. - Early Arabic grammar by the orientalist Savary (1750-88), published posthumously and edited by Louis-Mathieu Langlès (1763-1824), the conservator of the oriental manuscripts at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Napoleonic France. Langlès enriched the work with several Oriental fairy tales, including the legend of Sindbad in French and Arabic, making this the first Arabic printing of a tale from the Thousand and One Nights. Savary was also the author of the second translation of the Qur'an, published in 1783, which replaced Du Ryer's translation from 1647 and saw reissues as late as 1970. - Upper cover pierced in one place. Paper with occasional light brownstaining; small flaw to lower corner of p. 519, not affecting text. A fine volume in an appealing binding. Brunet V, 154. Schnurrer 429 (note). OCLC 234128786. Not in Graesse or Fück. For Savary cf. Dictionnaire des orientalistes de langue française 927ff.
4to (295 x 235 mm). 50 photographs of Egypt (albumen prints and cyanotypes), and approximately 40 albumen prints of Switzerland. Impressively presented series of original photographs taken at various important sites and cities in Egypt, including Giza, Thebes, Karnak, Luxor, Abydos, Esna etc. The photographs show archaeological sites like the temple of Seti I at Abydos, the precinct of Ahmen-Rah near Luxor, the avenue of Sphinxes at Karnak, the Ramesseum and the Colossi at Thebes, the temple of Khnum at Esna, the Sphinx and pyramids of Giza and many more. Other photographs show the local population, doing a wide variety of activities, such as catching crocodiles on the nile, a Luxor barber shaving the head of a sailor, or a Bedouin camp in the Libyan Desert. - The Istanbul-based Sebah studio catered to the Western European interest in the exotic "Orient" and the growing numbers of tourists visiting the Muslim world who wished to take home images of the city, ancient ruins in the surrounding area, portraits, and local people in traditional costumes. "Sebah rose to prominence because of his well-organized compositions, careful lighting, effective posing, attractive models, great attention to detail, and for the excellent print quality" (Gary Saretzky, Photo history). Jean Sebah (1876-1947) took over the studio from his father Pascal after his death and signed his productions "J. P. Sebah" on the negative, putting his initial in front of his father's. - Some spotting and fading.
1 text volume (4to) and 2 atlas volumes (38.5 x 28 cm). (6), 304 pp. XI, (5) pp. 4 ff. With 121 illustrations in text and 144 collotype plates in atlas. Text volume in original printed paper wrappers. Atlas in original half cloth, printed paper sides. First edition of an art-historical work on Chinese funeral monuments, dating mainly from the Han dynasty. The work is compiled and written by the French archaeologists Gilbert de Voisins (1877-1939), Jean Lartigue (1886-1940) and Victor Segalen (1878-1919), who was in charge of the expedition. The expedition was cut off early due to the First World War. The two atlasses contain 144 loose collotype plates, showing statues, tombs, mausolea, reliefs and monuments as well as some of the sites, covering the area's of Nanjing, Shanxi, and Sichuan. Scientific descriptions of the plates are given in the text volume, along with small maps of the area, plans of the excavation sites and tombs and schematical reproductions of the artefacts. - Binding slightly rubbed along the extremities. Text volume and plates browned. Overall a very good copy. Couling, p.501.
8vo. Half-title and title, (4), 123, (1) pp. With 4 lithographed plates. Contemporary red morocco-backed cloth. One of 150 copies, rare. "A neat summary of nearly all that is necessary to be known in order to tame, train, and fly a hawk successfully" (Harting). - Cloth rubbed, a very good copy. Harting 217. Schwerdt II, 168.
Copper engraving with full original colour, in 3 unjoined sheets. Each sheet 47 × 71 cm. Very good condition, lovely original colour, mild toning, small nicks in blank margins and light stains in lower area. A very rare edition of Strass's large and resplendently coloured time chart depicting the inter-connecting streams of the histories of different World civilizations and nations from 3984 BC up to 1830. This large and colourful time chart employs ingenious visual methods to graphically illustrate historical events. The history of the world is presented as interwoven streams featuring the stories of its great civilizations/nations weave their way down the time chart like the paths of streams. History is shown to commence with Genesis, which is shown here to have occurred in 3984 BC, a date close to that asserted by the Ussher Chronology. This theory as to the timing of Genesis (which was said to have occurred in 4004 BC) was devised by James Ussher (1581-1656), the Archbishop of Armagh and the Primate of All Ireland (in office 1625-56), and is based on his "literal reading" of the Bible. The Ussher Chronology gained widespread popularity in certain Protestant circles during the 19th century. The time line starts at the top of the composition with the great ancient civilizations, namely, the Italians; Greeks; Asia Minor; Assyrians; Syrians; Phoenicians; Jews; Egyptians and the Chinese. Down the various streams are plotted the names and dates of different eras and rulers. The stream on the furthest right details major world events. Part way down, the civilizations in the Western and Mediterranean world converge into the 'Roman Empire' before splintering again into various new entities. The streams then continue to weave, combine and separate, mitigated by the interconnecting streams of major events and characters, towards the bottom of the time line, where the individual streams are represented by the nations and regions of Denmark; Sweden; Russia; the German States; Austria; Holland; Switzerland; France; the Italian States; States of the Church (Papal States); Spain; Great Britain; Greece; Persia; and China. William Bell, who issued his own version of the time chart in London in 1849, described the merits of Strass's conception to the study of history: "However natural it may be to assist the perspective faculty, in its assumption of abstract time, by the idea of a line [...] it is astonishing that [...] the image of a Stream should not have presented itself to any one [...] The expressions of gliding, and rolling on; or of a rapid current, applied to time, are equally familiar to us with those of long and short. Neither does it require any great discernment to trace [...] in the rise and fall of empire, an allusion to the source of a river, and to the increasing rapidity of a current, in proportion with the declivity of their channels towards the engulfing ocean. Nay, the metaphor [...] gives greater liveliness to the ideas, and impresses events more forcibly upon the mind, than the stiff regularity of the straight line. Its diversified power likewise of separating the various currents into subordinate branches, or of uniting them into one vast ocean of power [...] tends to render the idea by its beauty more attractive, by its simplicity more perspicuous, and by its resemblance more consistent" (Rosenberg & Grafton, pp.143 & 147). The present time chart is derived from Strass's exceedingly rare "Strom der Zeiten" ("Stream of Time", 1804). Strass's work proved to be highly influential and was widely copied in both Europe and America, and translated into several languages, including Russian. All of the large German editions are very rare, and the present example, in unjoined sheets with resplendent original colour, is an especially fine example. Cf. OCLC (Re: 1818 Zanna ed.) 165398011. (derivative 1849 London ed.). Daniel Rosenberg & Anthony Grafton, Cartographies of Time, pp. 143f. & 147, fig. 4:45.
2 vols. 18mo. (6), CLXX, 154 pp. 105, (1), 202 pp. With Arabic title-page printed in red and black. Contemporary tanned half sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. First edition in French of two Arabic travels to China and India. The text was translated from the Arabic by the French orientalist and professor Joseph Toussaint Reinaud (1795-1867). The Arabic text was first printed in 1811, under supervision of the French linguist and orientalist Louis-Mathieu Langlès. - The first volume starts with an introduction to the text, followed by the translation. The main text can be divided into two sections. The first account is based on statement from a merchant called Suleyman, who is said to have travelled to India and China in the years 851-852 (237), however, the actual author of the text is unknown. The following account is written down by Abu Zayd al-Hasan al-Sirafi. Al-Mas'udi, "the Herodotus of the Arabs", mentions al-Sirafi in one of his works, stating that he met him in the year 915-916 (303) in Basra, Iraq. Al-Sirafi tells us he was commanded to verify and extend the earlier account. The date of the second account is unclear, but it was probably written in the first half of the 10th century. The text gives a lively account of the life in China and India, with "… the first foreign descriptions of tea and porcelain, and a whole panorama of Chinese society, from the Son of Heaven and Confucian ethics down to toilet paper and bamboo urinals" (Mackintosh-Smith). The second volume gives notes to the translation, followed by the Arabic text. Added to the Arabic text are two extracts from works by Al-Mas'udi, including his "Muruj al-dhahab". - With owner's inscription on title-page. Sides slightly rubbed. A very good copy: only some minor browning. Cordier (Sinica) 1924f. Hage Chahine 3965. T. Mackintosh-Smith & J. Montgomery (eds.), Two Arabic travel books (2014), pp. 4-17.
490 x 725 mm. Various editions, 16 coloured sheets. Scale 1:100,000. Reliefs shown by contours, hachures and spot heights. Publisher's pictorial wrappers. Rarely found in such a complete group, these topographical maps document an important phase of the Survey of Palestine which was a direct result of the 1917 Balfour Declaration. - "The cadastral survey proceeded in fits and starts, through the Great Revolt of 1936-1939 and World War II. By the end of the mandate, the land was settled in less than 20 percent of Palestine, primarily in areas where Jewish colonies were established, such as the coastal plain, the Marj Ibn Amer valley, and north of Lake Tiberias by the Jordan River. The topographical maps were completed for all of Palestine, excluding the lower Negev. These were very valuable for military purposes during World War II" (Sitta). - Showing the district and sub-district boundaries, plus roads, notable buildings, police stations, minarets, in some cases Sheikh's tombs etc. The maps are as follows: 1. Metulla; 2. Haifa; 3. Safad; 4. Zikhron; 5. Nazareth; 6. Jaffa, Tel Aviv; 7. Nablus; 8. Yibna; 9. Ramle; 10 Jerusalem; 11. Gaza; 12. Hebron; 13. Dead Sea; 14. Rafah; 15. Beersheba; 16. Jebel Usdum. - A little edgewear and toning to wrappers; ownership inscription to each upper wrapper. Sitta, Salman Abu, [review] "A Survey of Palestine under the British Mandate, 1920-1948", in: Journal of Palestine Studies 35.2 (Winter 2006), p. 102.
Folio (368 x 292 mm). Containing 50 albumen prints of Constantinople (ca. 270 x 21 cm each). Red half morocco album with original giltstamped cloth covers; spine blindstamped. Fine period views of the city of Constantinople, by the respected photographic studio of Sébah and Joaillier, showing landscapes as well as monuments, street scenes with merchants, etc. Pascal Sébah (1823-86), a leading Constantinople photographer, 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, later in partnership with Policarpe Joaillier. The studio continued to operate as long as the year 1952. - A representative and fine example of a high-quality album aimed at the 19th century's developing Middle Eastern tourist market.
Small 4to (140 x 188 mm). 115, (1) pp. With 7 lithographed folding plates. Contemporary marbled boards with leather spine and edges. First edition of this Ottoman Turkish treatise on geometry, published by the Imperial Engineering School in Scutari (Istanbul): the official examination coursebook for the engineers of Sultan Sultan Selim III. Contains 88 problems with their practical applications and solutions; the folding plates at the end of the volume boast a total of 180 diagrams. Published just before the famous "Cedid Atlas", by the same press, and re-issued in 1844. - Binding rubbed, extremeties bumped, paper a little stained in places, but generally very good. OCLC lists only two copies, in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Staatsbibliothek Berlin. Özege 9109. OCLC 255316387.
1974Watercolour heightened with white. 681 x 520 mm. Signed and dated by the artist. Matted.
4to (199 x 243 mm). XXXII, 462, (2) pp. Contemporary auburn calf (covers sympathetically restored). Marbled endpapers. First (and only) edition of this early grammar of Ottoman Turkish, the fourth book known to have been printed at the French embassy press at Constantinople established by Choiseul-Gouffier in 1787. The Arabic types were supplied from Basel. The oriental scholar Viguier (1745-1821), who was apostolic prefect and resident at Constantinople from 1783 to 1802, was the first to distinguish in Turkish the exclusive use of either guttural or palatal vowels within a single word. His grammar is printed with the Turkish transliterated, although some sentences are printed in Ottoman script together with their transliteration. - The books printed at the embassy press were "mostly military or scientific and included Turkish translations of Fitte-Clave's 'Elémens de castramentation' and Truguet's 'Tactique navale'. Choiseul-Gouffier was keen to see printing re-established in Turkey, and there may well have been some degree of co-operation between his press and the refounding under Abdul Hamid I of the Turkish press (first established by Ibrahim Müteferrika), which led to the printing of Vauban's work on mines, the 'Fenn-i Lagim'. The press was mostly used for the production of materials used by the embassy" (Atabey). The subscribers included mostly merchants resident in Turkey, although some names from Smyrna and Saloniki are also to be found, as are various missionaries, the English ambassador Ainslie, Count Ludolf, ambassador of the King of the Two Sicilies, and Pierre Guys, author of "Voyage littéraire de la Grèce". - Light browning as common; upper corner of the final errata leaf torn away without loss and professionally remargined. Rebound to style retaining the original, beautifully gilt-stamped spine with sympathetic full calf covers and marbled endpapers. Atabey 1290. Blackmer 1732. Brill, Turcica, 13. Chahine 5025. Aboussouan 936. Vater/Jülg 416. Cf. H. Omont, "Documents sur l'imprimerie à Constantinople", in Revue des Bibliothèques, Paris, July-September 1895.
8vo. (2), 135, (3) pp. With 3 folding tables and 1 engraved plate. Contemporary wrappers with printed spine-label. Only edition of this introduction to Arabic, written by the Comte de Volney (1757-1820) as history professor at the newly-founded École normale, immediately after the end of the Terreur and his release from prison following the fall of Robespierre. In spite of its wide-ranging title, the book comprises essentially an Arabic grammar and a collection of Arabic proverbs; the long introductory chapter has been hailed a model of style. Volney had learned Arabic in 1782 in preparation of a long journey through Egypt and Syria. The work displays his ingenious method of simplifying the study of Arabic, Persian and Turkish by transliterating the alphabets into European characters. The tables give the Arabic alphabet, the conjugation of regular verbs, and instructions on how to write Arabic letters by hand, as well as the Arabic alphabet in European characters intended for merchants travelling to Asia and Africa. With a section of Arabian proverbs included as samples. - Untrimmed in the original grey temporary wrappers as issued; a few pages uncut. A good copy of this important work. Provenance: from the collection of the psychoanalyst and bibliophile Jacques Lacan (1901-81). Gay 3429. Brunet V, 1351. Cioranescu 663767. Monglond III, 481. OCLC 21978700.
8vo. XVI, 424 pp. Folding map frontispiece and 2 full-page maps to the text, 2 as plates, 23 plates. Original sand buckram, title gilt to spine and upper board, top edge gilt. First and only edition. Important regional study of the Arabian Gulf, published in response to the grant of the Baghdad Railway concession by the Ottoman Government to a German-backed consortium. Assesses the economic, military and political implications of rival claims in the various states of the area. - Whigham was a well-connected Scottish author who emigrated to America and worked as drama critic on the Chicago Tribune, and as a war correspondent at the Spanish-American and Russo-Japanese Wars. A close friend and correspondent of British Persian Gulf opinion-makers Lord Curzon and Sir Percy Cox, Whigham wrote the book, based on his extensive travels in the region, at the request of Lord Curzon, who had "advised [him] to go to the Gulf [and] instructed his subordinate officials in that part of the world to give me all the assistance in their power". Whigham is probably best remembered as a prominent amateur golfer, winner of the second and third US Amateur Championships, and author of "How to Play Golf", the first golf instruction manual illustrated from action photographs. Diba Collection 1978, 227. Wilson 243. OCLC 2987283.
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.
4to. (20), 171, (1) pp. With large engraved arms of William V of Orange to dedication leaf. Full vellum with handwritten spine title. First edition of this famous collection of Arabic proverbs by the Persian-born scholar Zamakhshari (1075-1144), edited and translated by Hendrik Albert Schultens (1749-93), professor of oriental languages at the University of Leyden. - Little is known of Zamakhshari's youth. He was apparently well-travelled and resided at least twice (once for an extended period of time) in the holy city of Mecca, where he earned his nickname, Jar Allah. As a philologist, he considered Arabic the queen of languages, in spite of the fact that his own native tongue was Persian (and though he wrote several minor works in that language). - Occasional light browning due to paper. Blindstamps of the library of Haverford College, Pennsylvania, to title and dedication. A good copy. Schnurrer 215. GAL I, 292, no. XIV (p. 348). Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam VIII, 1207. OCLC 4522262.
Oblong folio (255 x 203 mm). Photograph album containing 223 photographs (from 47 x 65 to 178 x 240 mm) mounted on 18 leaves, with 23 loosely inserted photographs, mostly with handwritten annotations in blue ink to versos. Contemporary metal-ring leatherette binding. With a quantity of relevant ephemera. Interesting collection of photographs by a participant in the closing stages of British rule in Palestine. Assembled by Lance Sergeant Ernest Bennet serving in 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards in Palestine, the photographs depict British servicemen on military exercise (Exercise "Bustard"), with Arab inhabitants, riots in Jaffa, military convoys, and troops on patrol. Significant photographs include the British soldiers with a captured Irgun flag and ships docking at Haifa with Jewish Displaced Persons. Bennett often identifies himself with an ink manuscript cross on the photographs. - Extremities of binding lightly rubbed. Includes a small collection of personal papers such as correspondence and payslips.
8vo (165 x 105 mm). Illuminated Arabic ms. on paper. 312 ff., 15 lines, Naskh script. Black ink on polished paper. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt ornamentation; ornamental colophon. Borders in red, black and gold. Gold discs between verses, sura headings written in gold. Blindstamped and gilt calf. Signed by a copyist named Hafez 'Ahmad ibn Ahmad al-ma'ruf, "Ahmad the Hafez" (respect title bestowed on those who have proved to know the entire Quran by heart), son of the renowned ‘Ahmad’, as quoted (underlined) in the colophon: Kataba hada-l mushaf as-sarif adafu ibad-‘Allah al-Kabir al-Mutaal Hafez ‘Ahmad, ibn ‘Ahmad almaruf,ba-yawwab-e (?) halifa-zade Hamidu-llah Taala [...] (literally, ‘he who wrote this noble Qur'an is a very foolish slave of God the Greatest, the Exalted, named Hafez ‘Ahmad, son of the renowned Ahmad, servant (?) of Hamidu-llah Taala, offspring of the Caliph […]’), etc. - Binding partially restored, in good condition.
4to. (24), 575 (but: 577), (13) pp. With engr. title vignette, 6 folding engr. plates and folding engr. map. Contemp. Italian half vellum with giltstamped red spine label. All edges red. First edition of this rare chronicle of the Turkish wars of 1683-86, being an account of the imperial offensive against the Turks and their allies following the unsuccessful Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683 which led to the reconquest of Hungary and the capture of Buda in 1686. Includes an extensive account of the siege of Vienna, a fine map of Hungary, and plans of Vienna, Esztergom, Nové Zámky, Košice, Buda, and the bridge of Osijek. The second edition appeared in 1688 at the same press. - Some browning and brownstaining due to paper; occasional underlinings in red pencil. A very good copy. BM-STC Italian 225. Apponyi 1304. Kelényi 1162. Sturminger 966 & 3839. Not in Atabey.
Folio. 32 full-page wood-engraved plates including pictorial title. Original decorative blueboards gilt, rebacked preserving spine, new endpapers. Views include Jeddah, Mocha, Cairo, etc. This work is published without text. The plates are set on a stone coloured background. A couple of the plates are signed by William Measom. The suggested publication date is taken from an inscription on the original front pastedown (bound in), and is consistent with the dates of other works illustrated by Measom. - Occasional mostly light foxing and soiling. OCLC 23070449.
4to. (7) ff., 1 blank f., 88, (4) ff. With woodcut printer's device to title page. 19th century vellum with giltstamped red spine labels. First dated publication of Ulloa's account of the siege of Tripolis in Italian. Includes the three-page dedication to Johann Jakob Fugger - the only place in the book where Ulloa's name appears. The author, a courtier of King Philip II, celebrates the defence of St Angelo's fortress on Malta, modern Libya. - In the 1551 Siege of Tripoli, the Ottoman fleet vanquished the Knights of Malta in Tripoli; the city was captured on 15 August by Sinan Pasha after six days of bombardment. The knights, many of them French, were returned to Malta upon the intervention of the French ambassador, and shipped onboard his galleys, while the mercenaries were enslaved. Murad Agha, the Ottoman commander of Tajura since 1536, was named as the Pashalik of the city. The siege was the first step in the all-out Italian War of 1551-59 in the European theatre. In 1553, Dragut was nominated commander of Tripoli by Suleiman, making the city a centre for piratical raids in the Mediterranean and the capital of the Ottoman province of Tripolitania. In a famous attack from Tripoli, in 1558, Dragut attacked Reggio and took all its inhabitants as slaves to Tripoli. In 1560, a powerful naval force was sent to recapture Tripoli, but that force was defeated in the Battle of Djerba, an event also described in Ulloa's book. The end of the volume is brought up by an interesting four-page account of Malta ("Descrittione dell'Isola di Malta") and a list of the names of Christian knights who died in the siege. - Occasional slight browning and brownstaining (more pronounced on title page); a few pages near end show insignificant edge flaws. Early 19th century ms. bibliographical note on flyleaf. A good copy. Edit 16, CNCE 37528. BM-STC Italian 704. Gay 1494. Palau 343.401. Göllner 1134. Graesse VI, 224. Olschki L II, 222. Cf. Mortimer 509 (with note on this edition). Not in Adams, Blackmer or Aboussouan. This edition not in Atabey.
Engraved map, scale ca. 1:1 900,000. 714 x 529 mm. Original outline colour. Includes a smaller inset map: Plan des Isles Karak et Korgo et de la Baye de Bundereek. This fine, rare nautical map of the Arabian Gulf forms part of the famous "Neptune Oriental", a highly regarded collection of maps of the Middle and Far Eastern coasts which the author, the French hydrographer d’Après de Mannevillette (1707-80), had mapped during his time as captain for the French East India Company. The collection was first published in 1745, but redrawn and newly engraved by Guillaume-Nicolas Delahaye for the 1775 edition. The chart (plate 28 in the volume) is stated to be based on information collected by captain René Julien Le Floch de La Carriere and in many respects resembles the roughly contemporaneous works of William Herbert (Al Ankary no. 190) and d'Anville (Al Ankary no. 211). About the present map (in its 1745 version), Zoltán Biedermann writes, "It is interesting to note that, despite the fact that the shape of the Gulf is rooted in the Dutch tradition that we have come to name after Cornelis Roobacker, there are many new place names that were not there in the earlier decades. Like some other items from this period, this map is thus a precious document of the shifting commercial geography of Persia and the Persian Gulf" (Historical Atlas of the Persian Gulf, p. 290). Although the 1775 issue departs but little from its release three decades earlier, there are a number of differences: most notably, the new inset plan of the Kharg and Kharko Islands, and the inclusion of an island near Bahrain identified as "Deh-Rogn" - in fact, an early reference to Qatar; while "deh" means "village", "Rogn" signifies Ras Rakan at the northern tip of the Qatar peninsula, a prominent navigational landmark. - Evenly browned, with traces of insignificant waterstaining. A good copy. Cordier (Sinica) col. 134 ("superbe ouvrage"). OCLC 165808168. Cf. Tooley I, p. 40. Tibbetts no. 265. Historical Atlas of the Persian Gulf (Brepols 2006) no. 74 (the 1745 edition, unidentified, pictured in two sizes: p. 290 and pp. 292f.). Not in Al-Qasimi (2nd ed.). Not in Al Ankary (but cf. nos. 208f. for two other maps by Mannevillette - the Gulf of Aden and the port of Jeddah - hailed as "extremely accurate" and supplying "detailed information").
Large 8vo. 88 pp. Printed in black with red headings, within printed gilt rules. Illuminated head-piece and 'unwan printed in three colours and gilt, in imitation of manuscript illumination. Gilt tail-piece. (Bound with:) Raccolta dei trattati e delle principali convenzioni concernanti il commercio e la navigazione dei sudditi Austriaci negli Stati della Porta Ottomana. Ibid., 1844. (4), VIII, 224 pp. Contemporary green morocco binding with fore-edge flap, covers giltstamped with an oriental design. All edges gilt. The full text of 19 trade treaties, in Ottoman Turkish throughout, closed between the Austrian and the Ottoman Empire between 1110/1699 (Peace of Karlovac) and 1259/1844. Bound in the same volume is the 1844 Italian-language edition, containing the texts of the various treaties in their respective original European language, with an Italian translation on the opposite pages. - Ownership "C Fr Jelinek 1855" signed to endpaper. The Turkish text shows occasional insignificant foxing, as common; altogether very well preserved. A splendidly bound copy. Zenker, BO II, 805.
