The Islamic World 6

books, maps, photographs, drawings and manuscripts

with several additions of Chinese interest
carefully selected from stock
to please the Guest of Honour
at the 2017 Abu Dhabi Book Fair
The Islamic World 6
The Islamic World 6
books, maps, photographs, drawings and manuscripts
with several additions of Chinese interest
carefully selected from stock
to please the Guest of Honour
at the 2017 Abu Dhabi Book Fair

’t Goy-Houten, The Netherlands

Vienna, Austria
2017
 Jointly offered for sale by:

Antiquariaat FORUM, ’t Goy – Houten (Utrecht), The Netherlands

Antiquariat INLIBRIS, Vienna, Austria

Extensive descriptions and images available on request

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front cover no. 191

inside front cover no. 58
p. 119 no. 155
inside back cover no. 17
back cover no. 57

v 1.1 · 13 Dec 2017

 An early account of Timbuktu by an American sailor
1. [A DA M S , Robert (= Benjamin RO S E)]. Jongste en echte berigten betrekkelijk Tombuctoo en eenige andere
nog onbezochte deelen der binnenlanden van Afrika.
Amsterdam, J.C. Sepp en Zoon, 1818. 8º. With a folding engraved map (30.5 × 37.5 cm) of North Africa with the
routes of Mugo Park and Robert Adams highlighted in colour. Contemporary boards. € 1500

First Dutch edition of Adam’s The narrative

of Robert Adams,... (1816). Robert Adams,
an American sailor whose real name was
Benjamin Rose, sailed in the Charles on a
trading voyage along the west coast of Africa.
Somewhere near Cape Blanc the ship struck
ground, and after the crew had struggled
ashore they were immediately taken prisoner
by some 30 Moors. The prisoners were taken
into the interior of Mauritania, and after the
party had reached a hilly village, they were
assaulted by a company of black Africans.
Both the Moors and the captives were impris-
oned and subsequently taken to the King in
Timbuktu, where they arrived in February
1811. Adams describes Timbuktu and its
inhabitants at length. Timbuktu wasn’t the
thriving metropolis it was made out to be, but
a small city with no walls, and houses made
of clay and grass.
Spine slightly damaged. In very good
condition, untrimmed leaving all deckles intact.
Howgego, 1800–1850, R24; NCC (4 copies); Saalmink, p. 31.

Printed in Arabic for the first time

2. A BU L C A S I S ( A L BUC A S I S , Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi). De Chirurgia. Arabice et latine.
Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1778. 2º (260 × 307 mm). With numerous woodcut illustrations in the text. Modern full
calf with giltstamped red spine label. Sold
Editio princeps: “the first edition in Arabic, and the first modern edition of the text”
(Garrison/M.). The volume comprises the surgical section of Albucasis’s “Tasrif li-man
‘ajiza ‘an al-ta’lif”, a medical encyclopedia in 30 treatises. This section has been termed
the “first rational, complete and illustrated treatise on surgery and surgical instruments.
During the Middle Ages it was the leading textbook on surgery until superseded by
Saliceto” (ibid.). Includes a wealth of woodcut illustrations of surgical instruments,
including a forceps for extracting a dead fetus – a device of his own invention, still in use
in modified form.
Abu al-Qasim, hailed as the “father of modern surgery”, specialized in curing disease
by cauterization. He designed several devices used during surgery, for purposes such as
inspection of the interior of the urethra, applying and removing foreign bodies from the
throat, inspection of the ear, etc. In his “Al-Tasrif” he described how to ligature blood
vessels almost 600 years before Ambroise Paré.
Very slight browning and brownstaining (more pronounced in first and final leaves);
contemp. notes on the author, excerpted from reference, on first blank. Lower and outer
edges untrimmed; a large-paper copy.
Schnurrer 398. Wellcome II, 5. Garrison/M. 5550. M. H. Fikri, Treasures from the Arab Scientific Legacy in
Europe, no. 4. DSB XIV, 585 (“ important edition”).

7
 First English edition of the greatest classic of Arabic literature, an entertaining satire
3. A L-H A R I R I, al Qasim ibn Ali (Leonard C H A PPE L OW,
editor). Six assemblies; or, Ingenious conversations of learned men
among the Arabians, … together with … proverbial sayings among
the Arabians, …
Cambridge, J. Archdeacon for T. & J. Merrill [etc], 1767. 8º.
Tanned half goatskin(?) (ca. 1800?). Sold
First and only edition of the first English translation of part of the Maqamat
(literally “Oratorical address”) by al-Hariri (1054–1122), which added “extra
linguistic and literary sophistication” (Classe) to the fictional narrative form
invented by al-Hamadhani (969–1008). Each of the six stories is followed by
notes, longer than the stories themselves, providing the reader unversed in
the Arabic language and Mediaeval Islamic culture with a great deal of infor-
mation about the context of the stories, the language, etc. The story, tells of
the narrator al-Harith as he travels in Arabia. In each place he visits he comes
across the same eloquent con artist Abu Zayd (Abuzeid), who charms and
dupes all around him, including the narrator. The book provides an enter-
taining and educational satire of Mediaeval Islamic society and has remained
popular to the present day.
With a couple contemporary marginal notes in ink. With some browning
(slight except in the margins of the first 2 leaves). Otherwise in very good
condition, with only a small marginal tear in one leaf. Binding also very
good. First English edition of an Arabic classic still underappreciated in the
West.
Classe, Encyclopedia of literary translation into English (2000), pp. 912–913; ESTC T121565;
Schnurrer, p. 226.

”a new departure in algebra”

4. A L-K A R AJ I, Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn al Husayn and
Franz WOE P C K E . Extrait du Fakhrî, traité d’algèbre.
Paris, Imprimerie Impériale, 1853. Contemporary half morocco. Sold
First edition of the first translation into French, rarely found on the market, of
parts of Al-Fakhri fi’ l-jabr wa’ l-muqabala (“Glorious on algebra”), a 10-century
treatise on algebra. Written by the Persian mathematician al-Karaji, this treatise
“offers the most complete or rather the only theory of algebraic calculus among
the Arabs known to us up to the present time” (p. 4). Basing himself on the
algebra of al-Khwarizmi and his followers, and on a translation of the Arithmetica
of Diophantus, al-Karaji “made possible a new departure in algebra” in “the first
account of the algebra of polynomials” (DSB).
Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn al Husayn al-Karaji, also known as al-Karkhi, was a
Persian mathematician and engineer who worked in Baghdad in the 10th century.
An original scholar, he is regarded as one of the earliest mathematicians who
worked to free algebra from geometry. The extract of Al-Fakhri, his most important
work, was edited and translated by the German orientalist and mathematician
Franz Woepcke (1826–1864), who spent most of his career in Paris. His translation
of the manuscript of Al-Fakhri, which he had found in Paris, was published to illus-
trate the progress of Arab mathematicians in the 10th and 11th centuries.
With the binding very lightly worn at the extremities; foxed throughout; a good copy.
DSB VII, pp. 240–246.

8
 Al Madkhal
5. A L- QA B I S I, Abu Al-Saqr Abd al-Aziz Bin Othman Bin Ali (Alchabitius). [Libellus Isagogicus –
Al-madkhal]. Preclarum summi in astrorum scientia principis Alchabitii opus ad scrutanda stellarum.
Venice, Petrus Liechtenstein, 1521. 4º. With several diagrams and woodcut initials in the text and the printer’s
full-page woodcut device on the final page, printed in red and black. Near-contemporary limp vellum with 19th
century spine label. € 28 000

“Early edition of Alchabitius’ ‘Introduction to the Mystery of Judgments from

the Stars’, with the ‘modern’ version by Antonius de Fantis. Sessa issued the
same work at the same time, but Liechtenstein’s edition is superior and espe-
cially esteemed for the fine woodcut in black and red (printer’s mark) at the
end” (Weil). Translated by Joannes Hispalensis (in 1144), with the commen-
tary of Joannes de Saxonia. “Although al-Qabisi’s education was primarily in
geometry and astronomy, his principal surviving treatise, ‘Al-madkhal ila sina’at
ahkam al-nujum’ (‘Introduction into the Art of Astrology’) in five sections [...],
is on astrology. The book, as the title indicates, is an introductory exposition
of some of the fundamental principles of genethlialogy; its present useful-
ness lies primarily in its quotations from the Sassanian Andarzghar literature
and from al-Kindi, the Indians, Ptolemy, Dorotheus of Sidon, Masha’allah,
Hermes Trismegistus, and Valens. Although completely lacking in originality,
it was highly valued as a textbook [... The] Latin version was commented on by
Joannes de Saxonia at Paris in 1331” (DSB).
Some traces of worming throughout, mainly confined to margins and expertly
repaired. 17th century ownership “Francois Claret” to title page. Rare; a single
copy in auction records since 1975.
Edit 16, CNCE 834. Adams A 24. BM-STC 1. BM I, 307. IA 102.864. Essling 301. Sander 223.
Houzeau/Lancaster I, 3848. DSB XI, 226. Weil, Cat. VI, 29. OCLC 46413115. Cf. M. H. Fikri,
Treasures from The Arab Scientific Legacy in Europe (Qatar 2009), nos. 9f.

Rare news of Albuquerque’s conquests in the East

6. [A L BUQU E RQU E , Afonso de] – Manuel I, King of Portugal. Epistola potentissimi ac invictissimi
Emanuelis Regis Portugaliae et Algarbiorum etc. de victoriis habitis in India et Malacha.
(Vienna, Hieronymus Vietor & Johannes Singriener, 16. IX. 1513). Modern brown half calf over marbled boards with
gilt spine title. € 75 000

A highly important letter by King Manuel to the Pope Leo X, reporting on the
great victories of Don Afonso de Albuquerque in India, especially the conquest
of Malacca in 1511. Albuquerque (1453–1515) advanced the three-fold Portuguese
grand scheme of combatting Islam and securing the trade of spices and the
establishment of a vast Portuguese Asian empire. He was the first European to
enter the Arabian Gulf, led the first voyage by a European fleet into the Red
Sea, and was also the first westerner to reach the coast of South-Eastern Arabia.
This very rare Viennese edition (the fourth altogether) was printed in the same
year as the original Rome edition. The preface states that the text from which
it was set was sent from Rome to Georg Slatkonia, Bishop of Vienna. “Of this
edition, copies must have been so rare even as early as the late 16th century,
that neither Andreas and Franz Schott nor Pistorius had knowledge of it.
Necessarily, this increases the value of the present edition” (Denis, p. 83).
Some dampstaining in the margins; lower edge shows slight paper flaws. Old
ownership in ink, dated 1600, in margin of final page. Latterly in the library of
Swedish antiquarian bookdealer Björn Löwendahl (1941–2013).
VD 16, P 4374. Denis p. 82, no. 86. Not in Adams or BM-STC German.

9
 A famous tract against Islam
7. [A L PHON S US DE S PI N A . Fortalicium fidei contra iudeos saracenos aliosque christiane fidei inimicos].
[Lyon], Guillaume Balsarin, 22 May 1487. Small 2º (209 × 291 mm). 248 unnumbered leaves (without the first and
last blank, as usual). Gothic type, 2 cols., 51 lines. With a woodcut in the text and printer’s device at the end. A
single ink initial supplied by the owner. 18th century full calf with panelled boards and giltstamped spine label.
Marbled endpapers. All edges red. € 18 000

Rare edition; a single copy in Great Britain. The “Fortalitatium fidei”, the
principal work (written c. 1458) of the baptized Spanish Jew de Spina, is con-
sidered the “methodical and ideological foundation of the Inquisition. The
book, divided into five chapters, targets chiefly Jews and Muslims” (cf. LMA
I, 408f.). Of the five books, “the first [is] directed against those who deny the
Divinity of Christ, the second against heretics, the third against the Jews,
and the fourth against Islam and the Muslims, while the fifth book treats of
the battle to be waged against the Gates of Hell. In this last book the author
dwells at length upon the demons and their hatred of men; the powers they
have over men and the diminution of these powers, owing to the victory
of Christ on the Cross, the final condition of the demons, etc.” (Catholic
Encyclopaedia). The section on Islam lists the numerous Saracen wars, while
the fifth book is devoted to the battle to be waged against the Gates of Hell
and its resident demons, whose population the author calculates at ober 133
million; this is one of the earliest printed discussions of witchcraft.
Occasional contemporary ink marginalia (some touched by the binder’s
knife); some slight worming, confined to blank margins. Some even
browning and a weak waterstain, but a very good, wide-margined copy with
an 18th century noble collection stamp (crowned Gothic letter G; not in
Lugt) on the first leaf.
HC 874*. Goff A-542. GW 1577. Proctor 8575. BMC VIII, 277. Polain 159. Pellechet 564.
Coumont (Witchcraft) S84.4. Cf. Caillet 10306 (“Incunable gothique rare”, only 16th c. eds.).

Great history of the Portuguese colonial empire in South

America, India, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa
8. A N DR A DA , Francisco d’. Chronica do muyto alto e muyto
poderoso Rey destes reynos de Portugal Dom João o III deste nome, ...
Coimbra, Real officina da universidade, 1796. 4 volumes. 4º. With a
woodcut royal Portuguese coat of arms on title-page of each volume.
Contemporary plain paper wrappers. € 2500

Second edition of an extensive history of the reign of King João (John) III of
Portugal (1502–1557), written by Francisco d’Andrada (1540–1614). During his
rule, Portuguese possessions were extended in Asia and in the New World
through the Portuguese colonization of Brazil. The majority of the 419 chapters
deal with Portugal’s overseas possessions and trading posts in India (Diu, Goa,
Chaul, Calicut), China, Ceylon, the Moluccas, the Middle East (Ormuz, Suez),
Africa (Zanzibar, Ethiopia, Mozambique), Brazil, etc. The chapters pay attention
to newly acquired lands, the governors of the regions, voyages and travels, wars
and sieges, and trade, Portugal being one of the first countries with trading posts
in China and Japan. Though his reign was marked by the introduction of the
inquisition in Portugal from 1536 onwards, the present publication only briefly
deals with the subject. Some other chapters deal with Jesuit missions to the east.
With a few occasional small spots, otherwise in good condition, wholly
untrimmed and most of the quires in the third and fourth volume unopened.
Paper wrappers soiled and worn.
Howgego, to 1800, A 90; cf. Bosch 52; Maggs, Bibl. Brasiliensis 104; not in Borba de Moraes.

10
 A classic on Portuguese India
9. A N DR A DA , Jacinto Freire de. Vida de D. Joaõ[!] de Castro,
quarto viso-rey da India . . . Nova ediçaõ emendada, e acrescentada
com a vida do autor.
Madrid, Officina Regia, 1802. Small 8º (14.8 × 10 cm). With engraved
frontispiece portrait of João De Castro, engraved title-page, 3
engraved plates (1 folding). Contemporary sprinkled sheepskin, gold-
tooled spine. Sold
Rare first and perhaps only Madrid edition, printed by the Spanish Royal
Printing Office, of a classic on Portuguese India and one of the most important
historical works in Portuguese, first published in Lisbon in 1651. It describes
the life and works of João de Castro, Governor and then Viceroy of Portuguese
India from 1545 to his death in 1548. He fought at Tangiers and was offered a
knighthood by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, travelled through India
and to Suez, the coasts of the Arabian peninsula and back to India, where he
defeated the Islamic Sultan of Gujarat. He proved an extremely good leader
in India and Ceylon, defeated the King of Cambodia, invaded Ceylon and
captured Broach and Malacca. WorldCat and REBUIN record only one copy of
the present edition, at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona.
With 3 plates browned (but not the engraved title-page or folding plate), 2
small marginal wormholes (1 occasionally touching a letter of the text), but
otherwise in very good condition. The binding slightly chafed and the back
board with some wormholes.
Manuel bibl. Portuguez, p. 26; REBUIN (1 copy).

The Portuguese in the lands of Prester John

10. A NGU I A NO, Mateo de. Epitome historial, y conquista
espiritual del imperio Abyssino, en Etiopia la alta, o sobre Egypto,
a cvyo emperador svelen llamar Preste Juan, los de Europa.
Madrid, by Antonio Gonçalez de Reyes for Francisco Laso, 1706.
4º. Modern mottled, tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. In
modern slipcase. Sold
First and only edition of a chronicle mainly relating the spiritual conquests
of Portuguese, in the lands supposedly once ruled by the mythical Prester
John (Abyssinia, Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan). The book summarizes the
entire history of the first contacts with Westerners in these lands, giving a
comprehensive bibliography on the last 4 pages. It includes an account of the
massacre of the Portuguese and Spaniards by the Muslim Turks in Sudan
(chapters 16–17). The work also includes accounts of Spanish missionaries
murdered in the Americas, notably the West Indies, Venezuela, Panama and
Martinique.
With two near contemporary owner’s inscriptions on title-page and two
library stamps professionally removed from the second leaf. Dampstain
through the first 33 pages and a few restorations to the lower margins,; a
good copy.
Alden & Landis 706/5; Medina, BHA 2130; Palau 12706.

11
 Afonso de Albuquerque’s conquest of the Molucca Islands
11. A RG E N S OL A , Bartolome Leonardo de. Conquista de las islas Malucas.
[Madrid, Alonso Martin, 1609]. Small 2º (222 × 296 mm). Engraved figurative title (lower border cropped with loss
of imprint, as common). 18th century red gilt morocco, boards with richly gilt floral décor, gilt edges of covers,
richly gilt spine in seven compartments with raised bands, black title label, speckled edges. Marbled endpapers. In
modern custom-made chemise of auburn cloth and a cloth case with spine in red morocco and five raised bands,
title in gold. € 35 000

First edition of the author’s principal work, very rare, especially with the
engraved title. The book mostly discusses the Philippines and the Moluccas,
but also deals with China, Java, Sumatra, and Ceylon, with references to “los
estrechos Persico y Arabico” (p. 12). The Portuguese naval commander Afonso de
Albuquerque had conquered Malacca in the early 16th century, several decades
after Arab merchants had introduced Islam to the islands. – “Copies with the
engraved title are rare, and still more difficult to find are copies in which the
printer’s name and date of printing are preserved at its bottom” (cf. Salvá).
Boards somewhat worn and rubbed, a few spots, some small cracks in the
joints, slight defects at head and foot of spine, but altogether a beautifully
preserved copy. Final leaf laid down, some small, inconspicuously repaired
wormholes near headlines. Some occasional foxing and browning; pages 65–68
with a remargined flaw at the edge (no loss to text). Provenance: Engraved
bookplate of Jeremiah Hill (early 18th century). Later in the famous library
of Sir Thomas Phillips (1792–1872, with shelfmark and inscription “MHC” in
pencil).
Palau 16089. Cat. Nederl. Scheepv. Mus. 494. Cox I, 284. Brunet I, 419. Ebert 994. Graesse
I, 193. Griffin/Ph. 23. Penney 304. Maggs (Spanish Books) 54a. Pardo de Tavera 121. Reiss &
Auvermann 40 (Travel & Exploration) 408. Sabin 1946. Salvá 3349.

Exceptionally large Arabic armillary sphere

12. [A R M I L L A RY S PH E R E]. [Rotating celestial globe, bordered by
four pivotable concentric rings, the uppermost with ornamental mount].
Arabic, 1125 AH (1713 CE). Engraved and etched gilt brass with lettering in
Arabic. Total height from ring to base: 53 cm. € 250 000

Exceptionally large armillary sphere with rich calligraphical and orna-

mental decoration as an image of the universe. The celestial sphere
is surrounded in the centre by rings with the signs of the zodiac
(outside) and various planet symbols. The names of the zodiac signs
and months are engraved in Arabic. Signed and dated by the artist,
an “Alexander”, in the year 1125 AH. A nearly identical object is kept at
the Globe Museum of the Austrian National Library at Vienna (item
GL. 214), there classified as “Persian/Arabic”. While simple celestial
globes are not uncommon in the trade, elaborate specimens of the
present size (53 cms) are very rare.
Slightly soiled and corroded, but hardly rubbed.

12
 A celestial globe with Cufic lettering, meticulously researched
13. A S SE M A N I, Simone. Globus caelestis Cufico-Arabicus Veliterni Musei Borgiani [...] illustratus. Praemissa
ejusdem De Arabum astronomia dissertatione et adjectis duabus epistolis Cl. Josephi Toaldi.
Padua, typis Seminarii, 1790. Small 2º (21.5 × 29.5 cm). With 3 large folding engraved plates. Contemporary green
half calf with gilt spine and marbled covers. € 28 000

Only edition of this rare study decribing a celestial globe with Cufic
lettering in the Borgia Museum at Velletri. The book also contains a disser-
tation on the astronomy of the Arabs, with Arabic excerpts from the works
of Ahmed al-Farghani (Alfraganus; cf, GAL I, 221), one of the most famous
mediaeval Muslim astronomers. Assemani (1752–1821), a great-nephew of
Joseph Assemani, the cataloguer of the oriental manuscripts in the Vatican
library, is best known for his catalogue of the manuscripts and Cufic coins
in the Naniana in Venice (cf. Fück 125).
Calf somewhat worn at spine-ends and hinges. Old library shelfmark label
pasted on inside of upper cover. A fine copy.
Brunet VI, 8185. DG 7.9265. M. H. Fikri, Treasures from the Arab Scientific Legacy in
Europe, no. 13 (with full-page illustration).

The first printed record of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, a genuine copy, perfectly preserved
14. B A L BI, Gasparo. Viaggio dell’Indie Orientali.
Venice, Camillo Borgominieri, 1590. 8º (100 × 147 mm). With woodcut title device, woodcut foliated initials and
woodcut navigational diagram. Contemporary full vellum with handwritten spine title (traces of ties). € 150 000

First edition of this travelogue by the Venetian state jeweller and merchant,
containing much information useful to the contemporary merchant, including
rates of exchange, duties, travel routes and distances as well as a detailed
account of the pearling grounds in the Arabian Gulf. As only recent research
by B. J. Slot has revealed, Balbi was “the first writer to record the place
names between al-Qatif and Oman that are still in use today” (UAE: A New
Perspective, 74). Thus, the present volume constitutes the earliest printed source
for the history of the UAE, Qatar, and Oman. “Either taking his information
first-hand from a local individual or using a navigator’s list, Balbi recorded
place-names along the coast of modern Qatar, the United Arab Emirates
and the Sultanate of Oman [...] he is the first to refer to many of these places
using the names by which they are known today” (King). According to Slot,
“practically none of the names of places on the coast between Qatar and Ras
al Khaima occur in other sources before the end of the eighteenth century”
(36). The present work is also of the utmost significance for “includ[ing] the
first European record of the Bani Yas tribe” (UAE yearbook 2005, 46) – the
first printed mention of the largest and most important tribe of the Arabian
Peninsula, from which emerged both the Al Nahyan and the Al Maktoum
dynasties, today’s ruling families of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Rare: the present original edition is recorded in no more than some 20 copies
worldwide (only two in the U.S., according to OCLC); most libraries hold
only the Rome 1962 reprint or the microfiche edition (New Haven 1974). An
Arabic translation was published in 2008; an English translation has not been
prepared to this day.
Contemporary accession number “2953” in ink and 20th century pencil notes
on flyleaf. Bookplate of Jean-Paul Morin (b. 1946), former director of the
Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis agencies, grandson of the painter Jean Sala,
and himself well known as a traveller. A wonderfully preserved copy in its original binding.
Edit 16, CNCE 3930. BM-STC Italian 68. Howgego I, B7. Cordier Japonica 112. Brunet I, 618. Graesse I, 279. Goldsmiths’ 251. Kress library of economic literature
S 276. Ibrahim Al Abed, Peter Hellyer. United Arab Emirates: A New Perspective. London 2001. Slot, B. J. The Arabs of the Gulf, 1602–1784. Leidschendam,
published with the support of the Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi, 1993. Geoffrey King. Delmephialmas and Sircorcor: Gasparo Balbi, Dalmâ, Julfâr and a
problem of transliteration. In: Arabian archeology and epigraphy 17 (2006) 248–252. United Arab Emirates yearbook 2005 by Ibrahim Al-Abed, Paula Vine, Peter
Hellyer. London 2005. The Heritage Library, Qatar, p. 17. Not in Adams. Carter, Robert A. Sea of Pearls, p. 79.

13
 First printed record of Abu Dhabi and Dubai: the first Latin edition
15. [B A L B I, Gasparo]. DE BRY, Johann Theodor. Indiae Orientalis pars septima [...].
Frankfurt, Wolfgang Richter, 1606. 2º (21 × 32 cm). Title within engraved figurative border. With an engraved
vignette, 22 engraved plates. Contemp. brown calf with gilt borders and decoration on middle of covers; blindtooled
spine rebacked. Traces of ties. € 45 000

Book seven of Théodore de Bry’s “Petits Voyages”, the greatest

single collection of material on early voyages to the East Indies,
which is considered unique in its extraordinary wealth of car-
tographical and visual material. Crucially, this much-sought
volume includes Gasparo Balbi’s groundbreaking account of
the Middle East, first published in 1590 as “Viaggio dell’ Indie
Orientali”–a mere 16 years before this present issue, making
this the second appearance in print altogether and the first
Latin translation. Balbi, a Venetian jewel merchant, travelled
extensively in the Arabian Peninsula in search of precious
stones. From Venice he sailed for Aleppo, proceeding to Bir
and from there overland to Baghdad, descending the Tigris to
Basra, where he embarked for India. While in the Persian Gulf,
he studied the pearl industry, noting that the best pearls were
to be found at Bahrain and Julfar. He refers to islands in the
Emirate of Abu Dhabi (including Sir Bani Yas and Das) and
to several coastal settlements that were to become permanently
established, such as Dubai and Ras al Khaima. Balbi was the
first to record the place names along the coast of modern Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Practically “none of the names
of places on the coast between Qatar and Ras al Khaima occur in other sources before the end of the eighteenth century” (Slot). The
volume also comprises the account of Joris von Spilbergen’s voyage to Ceylon in 1601–04 (with excellent plates).
Calf slightly worn, some browning due to paper. Title browned in the margins; some foxing to plates. Contemporary ownership
inscription of Thomas Knyvett in upper margin of title (partly obliterated by a later owner), dated 27 June 1608; also inscribed
“perlegi (I finished reading) 20 Octob. 1608 Tho. Kny.” near lower edge of the title. Armorial bookplate and later ownership of “T.
Norcliffe” on inside of upper cover. Thomas Knyvet, 1st Baron Knyvet (also Knevytt, Knyvett, Knevett, Knevitt; 1545–1622) was an
English courtier and Member of Parliament who played a part in foiling the Gunpowder Plot.
Brunet I, 1334. Church 206, 207, 208, 211, 212, 214, 217, 219, 221–225. Cf. Howgego I, B7. Ibrahim Al Abed, Peter Hellyer. United Arab Emirates: A New
Perspective. London 2001. Slot, B. J. The Arabs of the Gulf, 1602–1784. Leidschendam, published with the support of the Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi, 1993.
Geoffrey King. Delmephialmas and Sircorcor: Gasparo Balbi, Dalmâ, Julfâr and a problem of transliteration. In: Arabian archeology and epigraphy 17 (2006)
248–252. United Arab Emirates yearbook 2005 by Ibrahim Al-Abed, Paula Vine, Peter Hellyer. London 2005. The Heritage Library, Qatar, p. 17. Carter, Robert A.
Sea of Pearls, p. 79.

A classic description of Islam

16. B AU DI E R , Michel. Histoire generale de la religion des Turcs. Avec la
naissance, la vie, & la mort, de leur prophete Mahomet; et les actions des quatre
premiers caliphes qui l’ont suivy.
Paris, Jean Guignard, 1632. 8º. With the controversial half-page engraved
portrait of Muhammad. 17th-century(?) vellum, later endpapers. € 2750

Second edition of “the most complete treatment of Islam up to its time in France” (Atabey).
Written by Micheal Baudier (ca. 1589–1645), historiographer to the Court of France. The
book is presented as a history of the religion of the Turks, who controlled, at that time, a
large part of the Islamic world, and gives a detailed description of Islam and its prophet
Muhammad.
Bottom of title-page restored, covering a fraction of a millimetre of the date in the imprint,
and a small corner torn off, another corner torn from leaf K3, just touching the text. Further
some thumbing, several wormholes and a few water stains. Still a good copy of a classic
description of Islam.
WorldCat (9 copies); cf. Atabey 73–74 (1625 & 1641 eds.); not in Blackmer.

14
 112 photographs of Cairo and Egypt ,
by two of the most distinguished photographers of the Muslim world
17. BÉ C H A R D, Henri and Pascal SE B A H .
[Binding title:] Egypten.
[Cairo & Istanbul, ca. 1870–1880]. 3 oblong photo
albums (31 × 45 cm), containing 112 stunning photo-
graphs of Egypt (mostly measuring: 20.5 × 26.5 cm,
some slightly smaller: 20 × 25 cm and some slightly
larger: 26.5 × 21 cm), all mounted on cardboard
leaves measuring 30 × 42 cm. 49 photos are signed,
in the negatives, by Béchard, 35 by Sebah and
28 are unsigned, and several have numbers and
titles as well. The photographs in each volume are
numbered in a later hand on the cardboard (48,
“19”[=21], 43). Near contemporary gold-tooled black
half morocco; kept in matching half morocco
boxes. € 95 000

An extensive set of stunning photographs of Egypt by two

of the most distinguished photographers of the Muslim
world: Henri Béchard and Pascal Sebah. The collection is
very well preserved and unusual in its scope. The volumes
are thematically divided: the first album shows Cairo and
daily life in the city, the second shows antiquities outside
the city (pyramids, temples, funeral chambers, hiero-
glyphic etc.), and the third shows cities other than Cairo,
e.g. Karnak, Louqsor, Bal el Molouk, Thebes, Edfou,
Assouan, etc., along with ruins and sights from those
places. Thus the photographs not only show us the famous
views and antiquities, but also give an acute portrayal of
Egypt as a country and its everyday life at the time, which
is not common in the usual touristic photo albums.
Henri Béchard (active 1870–1880) was awarded the
Gold medal at the Universal Exposition in 1878. His
studio was in the Ezbekiyeh Gardens, Cairo. “His work
is distinguished by the superb quality of his prints and
the generally spectacular presentation of even the most
common sites, such as the pyramids. His studies of people
and costumes are even more interesting and point to a very
personal involvement of the photographer in the life and
customs of the country. His cityscapes and urban scenes
were mostly taken from unusual angles in an attempt to
cope with the narrow and confined spaces” (Perez).
Pascal Sebah (1823–1886) was a leading photographer based
in Constantinople, who 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” ( Saretzky ).
Only an occasional speck on the cardboard leaves,
otherwise a fine copy, with the photographs in very high
quality. The bindings also fine, only the boxes have some
very minor wear along the extremities.
Cf. N. Perez, Focus East (1988); G. Saretzky, History of photography
(online).

15
 60 photographs by Bechard of Egyptians and Nubians
18. BÉ C H A R D, Henri. Égypte et Nubie.
No place or date (but ca. 1880). 60 photographs on albumen paper, measuring 28 × 22 cm each, signed and captioned
in the plate, numbered 1 through 68. Contemp. green half calf with gilt spine and title “Égypte & Nubie”, initialed
“B.C.D.” on first plate. € 45 000

Large and beautiful photographs by Bechard: excellent

vintage prints, mostly in superior condition. They represent
the popular Egyptian and Nubian types, frequently in close-
ups. Nissan N. Perez states that this part of the work of a
photographer specializing in views of sites and monuments
“has escaped general attention” (cf. Focus East, p. 123, repro-
ducing the photograph of water carriers resting). Includes: a
scribe; a sheikh reading the Qur’an, merchants and grocers,
a group of ulemas (religious scholars) reading the Qur’an,
an Arab drawing water, whirling dervishes, Arab peasants
(a fellah carrying water), a sheikh going to the mosque, a
game of Mangala, water carriers, mat manufacturers, Sheikh
Sadad, a descendant of Mohammed, a falconer, washer-
women, an Arabic singer, a young fellah, a Darabouka player,
labourers, a public fountain, a beggar, Arabs at prayer, Arabic
coffee, etc.
Béchard was active between 1869 and ca. 1890. “His work
is distinguished by the superb quality of his prints and
the generally spectacular presentation of even the most
common sites, such as the pyramids. His studies of people
and costumes are even more interesting and point to a very
personal involvement of the photographer in the life and
customs of the country. His cityscapes and urban scenes were
mostly taken from unusual angles in an attempt to cope with
the narrow and confined spaces” (Nissan N. Perez).
Binding repaired in places.

Philantropy and charity in the Middle East and Europe

19. BE RC H T OL D, Leopold von. Ensaio sobre a extensão dos
limites da beneficencia a respeito, assim dos homens, como dos mesmos
animaes...
Lisbon, Regia officina typografica, 1793. 8º. With woodcut coat of
arms of the Academia real das sciencias de Lisboa on title-page.
Contemporary mottled, tanned sheepskin, richly gold-tooled spine,
gilt edges. € 950

Very rare first and only edition of the Portuguese translation of a work on
charity and philanthropy written by the Moravian count and traveller Leopold
von Berchtold (1759–1809). It deals with the history and philosophy of philan-
thropy, and touches various subjects. There is a chapter on the improvement of
the condition of black slaves, closing with a section on manumission, a chapter
on prison reform and one on animal welfare. Berchtold also gives examples of
charity among various societies, including the Turks, Arabs, Persians and Indians,
probably drawing from his own experiences: Berchtold travelled through Europe
and the Middle East for 17 years.
With bookplate. Binding worn along the extremities with wormholes in spine.
Only slightly browned with some minor foxing. Overall a very good copy.
Porbase (1 copy); Worldcat (5 copies); for the author: J. Stagl, A history of curiosity (1995), pp.
209–227.

16
 Editio princeps of the Gospels in Arabic
20. [B I BL I A A R A B IC A – N T]. Evangelium Sanctum.
Rome, typographia Medicea, 1590(–1591). 2º. With 149 large
woodcuts. Early 19th century auburn morocco with gilt spine,
ornamental gilt borders and blindstamped cover ornaments.
Marbled endpapers. € 28 000

Rare first edition of the Gospels in Arabic; the first work to be issued from
the Medicean Press, directed by G. B. Raimondi. Printed in Granjon’s
famous large fount, generally considered the first satisfactory Arabic
printing type and appears here for the first time. Apart from the Latin
title and colophon, the book is in Arabic throughout. Also in 1591 an
Arabic-Latin edition was issued, more common than the present one and
reprinted in 1619 and 1774. Illustrated with 149 large woodcuts from 67
blocks by Leonardo Parasole after Antonio Tempesta.
Some various browning throughout as common; slight waterstaining near
end. Old ownership stamps of the “Collegium Missionum Nigritiae” on
title page; includes photocopy of ownership transferral by the Biblioteca
Seminario Vescovile of Verona. An uncommonly appealingly bound
example. The Hauck copy fetched $75 000 at Sotheby’s in 2006.
Adams B 1822. Mortimer 64. Darlow/Moule 1636. Fück 54. Schnurrer 318. Smitskamp
374.

Exceptionally rare Arabic Psalter

21. [B I BL I A A R A B IC A – P S A L M I]. Kitab mazamir
Da’ud al-Nabi [...] malik ‘ala’ sha’b Bani Isra’il.
Padua, Typis Seminarii [Zuanne Manfré], 1709. 8º. With
full-page woodcut illustration at the end of the preliminaries.
Contemp. blindstamped calf over wooden boards with two
clasps. € 12 500

Exceptionally rare Arabic Psalter, the first of several reprintings of ‘Abd

Allah ibn al-Fadl al-Antaki’s translation which had first appeared in
Aleppo in 1706. Translated from the Greek Septuaginta Version, with
the kathismata interspersed between the Psalms and with the Canticles
following them. Edited, with a Paschalion for the years 1709–39 at the end,
by Philipp Ghailán.
Only two copies known in institutional collections; collation agrees with
that of the British Library copy (Biblioteca Marciana collation omits 116
pp. of preliminary matter). Binding professionally repaired; noticeable
worming, mainly confined to margins. Some browning throughout; slight
waterstaining near end. A few early 19th century inked notes in Hebrew.
Provenance: 18th-century bookplate “Ex bibliotecha Johannis Marchioni
Plebani Veneti” on final endpaper.
Darlow/Moule I, 1653 (note). BL shelfmark: Asia, Pacific & Africa 14501.a.31. Marciana
shelfmark: 133-C-176. OCLC 945484585 (digital reproduction only).

17
 The Sultans, illustrated
22. B OI S S A R D, Jean Jacques. Vitae et icones sultanorum Turcicorum, principum Persarum aliorumque
illustrium heroum heroinarumque ab Osmane usque ad Mahometem II.
Frankfurt am Main, Theodor de Bry, 1596. 4º. Engraved title page and 47 full-page portrait engravings by Jean
Jacques Boissard (all in the pagination); numerous woodcut vignettes and initials. 19th century vellum, bound to
contemporary style, with ms. spine title. € 25 000

First edition of this work, the high artistic quality of which is due to the partici-
pation of Georg (Joris) Hoefnagel. “This beautiful book contains portraits of the
Sultans from Osman I to Murad III and also contains portraits of Scanderbeg and
his family, Tammas Khuli Khan, Barbarossa, Roxelana thw wife of Suleiman the
Magnificent, and pashas of the Ottoman Empire (Cario etc.) [...] The portraits
were engraved by Theodore de Bry after drawings by Hoefnagel who apparently
took them from medals brought from Constantinople. The portraits are circular
within elaborate borders composed of fruits, animals and grotesques within a
strapwork frame” (Blackmer). “The text is a very diligent compilation and treats
the Hungarian wars extensively. But the principal interest in this book must lie
in the masterful portraits and unique borders showing flowers, insects, birds and
other animals” (cf. Apponyi).
A very slightly browned copy showing barely any foxing. Some 18 portraits are
rather deftly coloured in places. A fine, well-preserved copy of this rare work.
VD 16, B 6463, B 6465–66 & L 2459. Adams B 2345. Blackmer 159. IA 121.336. Cioranescu 4269.
Göllner 2185. Apponyi 1923. Hollstein IV, 50, 207–254. Graesse I, 475. Lipperheide I, 1401 (Lb 10).
Brunet I, 1609.

Souvenir album showing the Holy Land, Egypt,

Athens and Venice in the second half of the 19th century
23. B ON F I L S , G. L E K E G I A N & C O, BRO T H E R S Z A NG A K I, C OL L E C T ION M E R L I N
A N D C A R L O N AY A . [Souvenir album with photographs of the Holy Land, Cairo, Athens and Venice].
[Palestine, Cairo, Athens, Venice, ca. 1890]. Oblong album (41.5 × 31 cm) containing 62 albumen prints, mostly
23 × 28 cm, with 2 smaller prints of ca. 16 × 28 and 5 large prints of 35.5 × 27 cm. Most of the photographs are
numbered and captioned in French, and sometimes also in English, on the negative. Contemporary brown half
morocco. € 9500

Interesting souvenir album, probably compiled after a journey through the Holy Land, Egypt, Athens and Venice in the 1890s.
Complete souvenir albums were sold by photographer’s studios and dealers alike. However, the fact that the current album has
several blank pages at the end, lacks a binding title and contains photographs showing several different countries, suggests that it was
compiled by an individual traveller.
The largest part of the album is taken by photographs of Egypt
and Jerusalem. Two photographs show local inhabitants: a single
rider with his horse before the river Jordan and an encampment
of Bedouins near Jericho. All the sites of Jerusalem are present.
A misplaced image of the coppersmiths of Cairo is placed before
images of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre. The images of Egypt mostly show the river Nile and
the Pyramids, but also a busy market in the garden of Gezireh,
the interior of the Mosque of Muhammad Ali and a mummy.
Typical images of Athens and Venice follow, with the final image
showing a gentleman and two ladies feeding the pigeons on the
Piazza San Marco.
With the captions of several of the photographs transcribed in
pencil or ink. Binding worn at the extremities. Cardboard of
the album with a few spots and several tears, most of the header
corners damaged and several repaired. Photographs in excellent
condition, a few with some spots and light damage at the sides.

18
Ground-breaking first printed illustrated travel
account: a voyage to and in the Middle East,
also a great masterpiece of book production
and illustration
24. BR E Y DE N B AC H, Bernhard von. [Peregrinatio
in Terram Sanctam].
(Colophon: Mainz, printed by Erhard Reuwich, 11
February 1486). Chancery 2º (33 × 22.5 cm). With a
woodcut frontispiece, a woodcut female figure with
the Henneberg arms below the colophon, 3 (of 7) dou-
ble-page and larger folding plates with large woodcut
views; 5 (of 7) woodcut illustrations and 5 (of 6)
woodcut alphabets of exotic languages; all woodcut
views on the integral leaves and one folding plate
coloured by a contemporary hand. With about 110
spaces left for initials, filled in with red “Lombardic”
uncials; rubricated throughout. Lacking 4 plates and
1 printed integral leaf, and with 2 other (uncoloured)
plates added from other copies (one from a later edition).
Contemporary panel-stamped and blind-tooled calf over
wooden boards. € 45 000

First edition, in the original Latin, of the first illustrated travel account ever printed, considered the first authentic Western source for
the Near and Middle East, as the text and illustrations were prepared based on actual observation of the sites and people described.
Bernard Breydenbach (ca. 1435/40–1497), a canon of Mainz cathedral, set off from Oppenheim in April 1483 to join a pilgrimage
to the Holy Land, accompanied by two friends. They took along an interpreter and the painter Erhard Reuwich (ca. 1455-ca. 1490),
originally from Utrecht, who provided a visual documentation of the trip. The present first edition gave many Europeans their
first view (both figuratively and literally) of Middle and Near Eastern people, costumes, animals, architecture, religions, cultures
and languages. The Middle East attracted many travellers from both East and West, so Breydenbach was able to provide first-hand
accounts of people even from regions beyond those he visited.
With owner’s inscriptions and manuscript notes. Lacking 1 integral leaf (with 3 woodcuts) and 4 large folding views, while the views
of Methoni and of Rhodes have been loosely inserted. Further with the frontispiece cut down to the border and mounted, some small
marginal stains, tears and chips and some smudges. Binding rebacked and with some scuffs, chips and cracks. In spite of these defects
most of the surviving leaves are in very good condition and nearly untrimmed. A masterpiece of woodcut artistry and book produc-
tion, and a ground-breaking source for European knowledge of the Middle and Near East.
BMC I, pp. 43–44; Davies, Breydenbach I (pp. 1–4); Goff B1189; GW 5075; Howgego B160.

19
 Rare set of beautiful views of a journey to India, by way of Egypt and Arabia,
including views of Aden, a group of Arabs and Suez
25. BROUG H T ON, Frances and William Alfred DE L A MO T T E . Views of the overland journey to India
from original sketches.
London, Charles Chabot, [1847/48]. 12 tinted lithographed plates on unwatermared wove paper (28 × 38), including
a title-page and 11 views. All lithographs printed from a zinc plate by William Alfred Delamotte after drawings by
Frances Broughton. Original publisher’s lithographed wrappers. Kept in modern brown cloth portfolio. € 9800

A very rare set of beautiful views of an overland journey

from England to India, by way of Egypt and Arabia.
Including a view of the entrance to the natural harbour of
Aden, showing its mountains, two armed Arabs, a building
complex, and a steamer and two smaller ships on the water, a
caravan through the desert, awaited by a group of Arabs, and
the harbour of Suez.
“[I]n the early years of the nineteenth century he
[Delamotte] was one of a group of pioneering younger
British artists that included Constable and Turner, who
sketched landscape in the open in oils” (ODNB). He was
active as the drawing-master at the Royal Military College.
A few minor spots and slightly browned along the edges,
otherwise in very good condition.
Abbey, Travel 522; WorldCat (3 copies); for Delamotte: Luke Herrmann,
“Delamotte , William (1775–1863)”, in ODNB (online ed.).

Biblical travels in the form of a travel book

26. BÜ N T I NG , Heinrich and Matthias H A S A E RT.
Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae. Dat is: het reysboek der Heyligher
Schrift.
Including:
- BÜ N T I NG , Heinrich. Een besonder tractaet ende onderwijsin-
ghe van de munte ende ghewichtre der Heyligher Schrifturen...
- [BÜ N T I NG , Heinrich]. Itinerarium Novi Testamenti. Dat is:
een reysboeck, over het Nieuwe Testament. Het tweede deel...
- BÜ N T I NG , Heinrich. Harmonia evangelistarum, dat is: eene
seer schoone ende eendrachtige over-een-stemminge der heyliger vier
evangelisten...
Amsterdam, Hendrik Laurentsz., 1635. 4 parts in 1 volume. 4º. With
5 woodcut and 2 engraved folding maps. Contemporary vellum,
modern endpapers. € 1950

Rare eighth(?) edition of the Dutch translation of a work on Biblical travels, written by the German Protestant pastor and theologian
Heinrich Bünting (1545–1606), first published in German in 1581 and translated by Matthias Hasaert (1578?–1663). The work proved
extremely popular and appeared in almost 80 editions up to the 18th century. “However much a work of the study, this book could
be easily taken and read as a travel book. Bünting, although he had never actually visited Palestine, produced an original work by
recasting Sacred Scripture into a Reissbuch” (Noonan). The work is divided into four parts. The first deals with the travels from the
Old Testament, starting with a description and a woodcut plan of Jerusalem. Two other woodcut folding plates show the Temple of
Solomon and the route the Jews took from Egypt to the Holy Land. The second part explains the Biblical currencies and units of
measurement. The third part resembles the first, but deals with the journeys from the New Testament. The work closes with a short
theological treatise on the four Evangelists.
With an owner’s inscription on flyleaf. Browned throughout, some marginal smudges, some occasional small spots and one plate
slightly torn along the fold. Binding somewhat soiled, spine restored. Overall a fair copy.
STCN (3 copies); WorldCat (1 copy); cf. Laor, Maps of the Holy Land 139–146, 968 (maps in other eds., 1582–1648); F.T. Noonan, The road to Jerusalem:
pilgrimage and travel in the age of discovery (2007), pp. 158–160.

20
 782 Arabic proverbs collected before 1817, with explanatory notes
27. BU RC K H A R D T, Johann Ludwig. Arabic proverbs, or the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians,
illustrated from their proverbial sayings current at Cairo, translated and explained ...
London, John Murray (colophon: printed by C. Roworth), 1830. Large 4º (28 × 22 cm). With a large folding engraved
map of the Sinai, the Holy Land and parts of Egypt and Syria, showing Burckhardt’s travels, and a few small
woodcut illustrations in the text. Set in roman and italic type with the proverbs also in the original Arabic. Mid-
19th-century half tan calf, spine with gold-tooled bands. € 8000

First edition of a ground-breaking trove of 782 Arabic proverbs, published here in the
original Arabic with English translations and (sometimes extensive) explanations of
their meaning. Burckhardt took some from a collection assembled by the Egyptian
scholar Shered ad-Din Ibn Assad, adding others “as he heard them quoted in general
society or in the bázár ... Several Scriptural sayings and maxims of ancient sages will
be found here naturalized among Arabs; as well as some Proverbs which have generally
been supposed of European origin” (preface). This makes the present publication an
essential primary source for Islamic, Egyptian and Arabic oral history, preserving
popular proverbs collected before 1817.
The Swiss explorer, orientalist and archaeologist Burckhardt (1784–1817) travelled
through Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Nubia and the Arabian Peninsula, and rediscovered the
ancient city of Petra. Disguised as an Arab, he crossed the Red Sea to Jeddah under the
name “Sheikh Ibrahim”, passed an examination in Muslim law and participated in a
pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.
With bookplate. Endpapers browned, slightly affecting the title-page, last page and
folding map, but otherwise in very good condition. Binding somewhat worn and
scuffed, but structurally sound. An expert Arabist’s annotated collection of Arabic
sayings, giving insights into Arabic culture.
Gay 1963; Howgego, 1800–1850, B76.

Regulations for Napoleon’s army, printed in Egypt during the invasion

28. [C A I RO PR I N T I NG – L OU I S X V ]. Extrait de
l’ordonnance du 1.er Mars 1768, pour régler le service dans les places
et dans les quartiers.
Cairo, Imprimerie nationale, an 9 de la République Française
(1800). Small 8º. Contemporary boards with giltstamped red spine
label. € 15 000

First edition thus. – An exceedingly rare production of J. J. Marcel’s Cairo

press, the “Imprimerie Orientale” (recast as the “Imprimerie nationale” in 1799)
which in late 1798 had introduced modern printing to the Arab world: the
French army regulations which had been issued by King Louis XV in 1768 and
remained in force until well into the 19th century. “The expedition of Napoleon
Bonaparte to Egypt [...] was to change permanently the traditional Arab world
[...] The French brought Arabic typography to Egypt, where it was practised
under the supervision [...] of Jean Joseph Marcel [...]. Only a few days after the
French troops landed [...] they set up the Imprimerie Orientale et Française
there. It was an extraordinarily important turning point. For, leaving aside the
Hebrew printing presses in Egypt of the 16th to the 18th centuries, until this
date announcements and news adressed to Arabs there, as well as in other parts
of the Arab-Islamic world, had been spread only in hand-writing or orally,
by criers, preachers or storytellers [...] The French printed [...] chiefly military
orders, dispositions and proclamations [...] When the French withdrew from
Egypt in 1801, according to most researchers they also took their printing press
with them” (Glass/Roper, p. 182f.).

21
Long treasured by military scholars, ‘reglements’ such as these constitute important historical sources, “the most solid and most
authoritative deposits of our knowledge of military affairs – if not of its high regions, then of its broad and essential bases” (cf. Jähns,
Geschichte der Kriegswissenschaften III, 1927), yet “they have become so rare that they should almost be considered as unprinted
archival material” (cf. Lehmann, Werbung & Wehrpflicht, p. 136).
Extremeties slightly bumped. Insignificant browning, still a good, untrimmed copy in its first binding.
Bibliotheca Marsdeniana, p. 185. Cf. Glass & Roper, The Printing of Arabic books in the Arab World, in: Middle Eastern languages and the
print revolution (2002), pp. 177–225.

The origin and history of those cities of Barbary of which the

names occur upon Arabic coins
29. C A S T IG L ION I, C[arlo] O[ttavio]. Memoire geographique et
numismatique sur la partie orientale de la Barbarie appellée Afrikia par les
Arabes.
Milan, Imprimerie Imperiale et Royale, 1826. Large 8º. Contemporary
wrappers. € 950

Only edition. – “His principal work in the department of Oriental literature [...] in
which the origin and history of those cities of Barbary of which the names occur
upon Arabic coins are detailed” (Men of the Time [1868], p. 161). The Italian classi-
cist and numismatist C. O. Castiglioni (1784–1849) was descended from Baldassare
Castiglione, author of “Il Cortegiano”. This work established his reputation.
Old shelfmark label on wrappers. Some slight brownstaining. An untrimmed,
wide-margined copy.
Leitzmann 21. Astor Library Cat., Supplement, p. 116.

Narrative of a journey to Morocco and critical commentaries on Islam

30. C L É N A R D, Nicolaus. Peregrinationum, ac de rebus
Machometicis epistolae elegantissimae.
Leuven, (Reyner Velpius for) Martin Rotarius, 1551. 8º. With several
Arabic interspersions in the text. Modern half calf with marbled covers,
spine gilt with red label. All edges sprinkled in red. € 7500

Second, significantly expanded edition of 24 travel letters by the Dutch educator

and enthusiast of Arabic Nicolaes Cleynaerts (Clénard, 1493–1542), who visited
Spain, Portugal and Morocco during the last years of his life, sending Latin letters
“dated variously from 1535 to 1541” (Weber) to friends in his native Belgium: “He
moved from Louvain to Salamanca and then to Fez (in 1540), so as to expand his
knowledge of the Arabic language. In Granada he undertook a translation of the
Qur’an. His letters to Latomus (1510–96) date from this time, when he was preoc-
cupied with Qur’anic studies” (cf. Göllner I, p. 416); “his missives give a narrative
of his journey to Morocco and provide critical commentaries on Islam” (cf. Göllner
II, p. 18). “Notably the letters to Latomus of July 1539 and of April 1541 contain quo-
tations in Arabic in a barely readable version of the original script” (Smitskamp, PO
248). Clénard had become acquainted with Islamic theology in Granada, learning
Arabic from a local Moor, and endeavoured to familiarize Christianity and Islam
with each other more closely. His letters bear witness to the Spanish, Portuguese,
and Moroccan history of his age and preserve his thoughts about the common
ground between the Muslim and Christian faiths.
Some insignificant browning; an appealing copy. Rare: in 1999 the Burrell copy, the
only copy in auction records, commanded £1400 in spite of poor condition.
Adams C 2160. BM-STC Dutch 54. Göllner 903. Weber II, 142. Pettegree/Walsby, Netherlandish
Books 8448. Riant 3531. Chauvin (Clénard), p. 170f. Cf. Brunet II, 99 (other eds.).

22
 Eulogy of João de Castro, Viceroy of Portuguese India,
who travelled the coasts of the Arabian peninsula
31. [C OE L HO, Simão Torresão and João Pinto
R I BE I RO]. Elogio do muy valeroso, e de raras
virtudes dom Ioão de Castro illustrissimo governador, &
visorrey da India.
Lisbon, Domingos Lopes Rosa, 1642. Small 4º (19 × 15
cm). With a large woodcut ship on title-page. 19th-cen-
tury half tan sheepskin, refurbished ca. 1925 with grey
paper sides and new endpapers. € 9500

Rare first (and only separately published) edition, in Portuguese,

of Coelho’s eulogy of João de Castro (1500–1548), governor and
then viceroy of Portuguese India from 1545 to his death. He
travelled through India and to Suez, along the coasts of the
Arabian peninsula and defeated the Islamic Sultan of Gujarat. He
proved an extremely good leader in India and Ceylon, defeated
the King of Cambodia, invaded Ceylon and captured Broach and
Malacca. He shares with Vasco da Gama the honour of being the
only colonial leaders memorialized with a statue in India.
Each paragraph of the eulogy, written by the poet and jurist
Simão Torresão Coelho (died 1642), is followed by extensive com-
mentaries by João Pinto Ribeiro (1590–1649), the principal agent
of the Portuguese rebellion against Spain, celebrating the history
of Portugal and Portugal’s newly proclaimed sovereignty.
With bookseller’s ticket over an earlier stamp. With the foot of
the title-page border shaved, minor water stains and worm holes,
occasionally affecting a few letters of the text, a few pages with
marginal tears or restorations, but still in good condition. Spine
label damaged but binding also good. A rare bibliographical
expression of Portuguese pride.
Barbosa Machado II, p. 724; KVK/WorldCat (7 copies); for Ribeiro: Danvers, The Portuguese in India II, p. 271.

1668 Journal of the Dutch Ambassador in the Ottoman Empire,

with a letter from the Sultan
32. C OL L I E R , Justin and Jaques van DA M . Journal du voyage de Mr
Collier resident à la Porte. Pour messieurs les Etats Generaux des Provinces
Unies.
Paris, Gervais Clouzier, 1672. 12º. 19th-century(?) half calf, gold-tooled spine.
 € 8500

Second French edition of the journal of Justin(us) Collier (also Coljer or Colier) (ca.
1624–1682) giving a detailed account of his first months in Constantinople (Istanbul),
Smyrna (Izmir) and Adrianople (Edirne) in 1668, the year he succeeded Levinus Warner
(1618/19–1665) as Dutch ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. After the journal itself
follow two letters to the Dutch States General, one from the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed
IV (1642–1693) and one from the governor (Caïmacam or Kaymakam).
With a few faint and mostly marginal stains, but otherwise in very good condition.
Binding also very good. A detailed eye-witness account of the Ottoman Empire in 1668,
by the Dutch ambassador there.
l’Argus du livre de collection, 1992, p. 153; Barbier, Anon. et pseud. 9040; Ferweda I, p. 304; SUDOC
085070254.

23
 Confidential reports from consular officials,
primarily regarding trade with the countries of the near and Middle East
33. [C ON S U L S – S E C R E T R E P ORT S]. Reports in Relation to Trade with
Turkey in Asia, Persia, and Central Asia. London, Foreign Office, 1880.
With:
(2) Reports on Trade with Turkey.
(3) Turkish reforms: The Development of Asia Minor by the “Etappen” System.
(4) [With a report from] Mr R. Thomson to the Marguis of Salisbury.
(5) Memorandum by Lieutenant-Colonel Ross on Southern Traffic Routes [with
Persia].
(6) Memorandum by Mr. W. J. Dickson on Commercial Relations between Persia
and Great Britain and Communication weith Persia.
Six works bound in one volume. 8º. Contemporary tan half calf over marbled
boards, spine with gilt rules, gilt lettered red label, gilt initials to the foot of the
spine. Folding map to the second work. € 5800
A bound collection of confidential reports from consular officials primarily regarding trade
with the countries of the near and Middle East. The first work contains reports from cities such as Baghdad, Aleppo, Trebizond and
Beirut. The second includes numerous short reports from all across the region, including a one and a quarter page report from the
Consul at Jeddah describing local trade along with brief descriptions of the state of transport and communications routes.
Repairs to the upper ends of both joints, very good.

The British Navy’s Operations in the Arabian Gulf during the Great War
34. C OR BE T T, Sir Julian S[tafford] / Newbolt, Henry. Naval Operations.
New York, Longmans, Green and Co., 1920–1931. 5 text vols. and 4 map portfolios, bound to match in original gilt-
stamped navy-blue cloth. 9 volumes altogether. Sold
Official British account of Naval Operations during the First World War,
based on official documents and illustrated with a plethora of maps.
Begun by Sir Julian Corbett and continued, after his death in 1922 by
Henry Newbolt. Includes a chapter on the “Persian Gulf Operations”
(“Securing the Command in Egypt and the East”), dealing especially with
Kuwait and events in the Shatt al-Arab, and another on the Mespotamia
Campaign of July-October 1915, mentioning Bahrein and the role of the
Sheikh of Qatar, Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani, as well as the ports of
Doha and Al-Bida.
1974 ballpoint ownership to first flyleaf; tab of the Amsterdam
Scheepvaartmuseum mounted in prelims. Bindings somewhat rubbed in
places; occasional slight browing, but finely preserved altogether.
OCLC 1185863.

“The first European book devoted exclusively to China”

and “an irreplaceable source for the early history of the kingdom of Hormuz”
35. C RU Z , Gaspar da. Tractado em que se co[n]tam muito por este[n]so as cousas da China, co[m] suas
particularidades, [e] assi do reyno d[‘]Ormuz.
Evora, André de Burgos, 1569 (colophon: 1570). Small 4º in 8s (18.0 × 14 cm). Title-page with woodcut coat of
arms and in a woodcut border in 4 pieces, and further with some woodcut initials. Modern richly gold-tooled red
morocco, boards gold-tooled in a panel design, with earlier brass clasps and catchplates. € 265 000

24
Very rare first edition of “the first
European book devoted exclusively
to China” (Lach). A highly important
work, the first printed book published in
the West on the subject, serving as the
primary source on China for European
authors and their readers — most of
whom never set foot in the East — for
many decades following its publication.
Including an account of a chronicle of the
kings of Hormuz, based on a Persian or
Arabic manuscript now lost, and thus “an
irreplaceable source for the early history
of the kingdom of Hormuz” (Loureiro),
and a chapter on the Chinese Muslim
communities in China.
In 1548 Gaspar da Cruz, along with
ten fellow Dominican friars, departed
for Portuguese India with the purpose
of establishing a mission in the East.
Cruz visited Goa, Chaul, Kochi, and
Portuguese Ceylon. In 1554 Cruz was in Malacca and thence left for Cambodia on a (failed) attempt to found a mission there. In 1556
he was in Canton bay on the island of Lampacao and later went to Canton itself to preach. Cruz departed China in 1560 and sailed
to Hormuz and stayed there for three years. In 1565 he sailed back to Goa and travelled back to Lisbon in the next year. His Tractado
provides a highly unusual and remarkable eyewitness account of Ming China, including many details never before published in the
West. Comparing the work to the more renown account of Marco Polo’s travels to Asia, Boxer remarks: “there can be no doubt that
the Portuguese friar [Cruz] gives us a better and clearer account of China as he saw it than did the more famous Italian traveler”
(Boxer)
With a couple manuscript annotations and underscoring (one shaved). Some restorations (to title-page, leaves a2, d3, e4, e5, and f8,
quire a, b and k, and a few tiny corners), faint dampstaining in the upper margins and washed. Still a good copy.
Cordier, Sinica, col. 2063; Lach, Asia and the making of Europe I, p. 330 & 748; Porbase (5 copies, incl. 1 incomplete); R. Loureiro, “ in: Christian-Muslim
relations: a bibliographical history VI, pp. 369–375; WorldCat (3 copies); cf. Boxer, South China in the sixteenth century.

The first overland journey from Spain to the East Indies, by way of Iran
36. C U BE RO S E B A S T I A N, Pedro. Breve relacion, de la peregrinacion que ha hecho de la mayor parte del
mundo.
Madrid, Juan Garcia Infançon, 1680. Small 4º (20 × 14.5 cm). With the title-page in a border built up from cast
fleurons, woodcut coat of arms of the dedicatee Charles II of Spain, and some woodcut initials and tailpieces. Gold-
tooled morocco, by the leading Barcelona binder Emilio Brugalla (1901–1987), with the arms of the Spanish biblio-
phile Isidoro Fernandez (1878–1963) stamped in gold on front and back. € 18 000

First edition of an interesting and detailed account of the first overland journey from Spain
to the East Indies (1671–1680) by the Spanish missionary Pedro Cubero Sebastian. 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
thrown in into prison by the Dutch and later banished from the city. He then proceeded to
the Philippine Islands and then, by way of Mexico, back to Europe.
“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 and contemporary ownerships inscription on title-page. Some
occasional foxing and a small restoration, replacing the outer lower corner of the title-page
in a subtle facsimile. With very narrow margins, occasionally just shaving the headlines and
quire signatures. Otherwise in very good condition.
Howgego, to 1800, C225; Palau 65756; Sabin 17819; for the author: F.T. Noonan, The road to Jerusalem:
pilgrimage and travel in the age of discovery (2007), p. 104.

25
 One of 500 copies
37. DAV I E S , Norman de Garis. The Theban Tombs.
New York, [The Metropolitan Museum of Art], 1917–1927. Elephant 2º (380 × 490 mm). 5 vols., with 5 frontispieces
(4 in color), 178 plates (21 in color), and numerous figures. Original printed wrappers, untrimmed. € 15 000

Limited first edition of this catalogue of the principal

tombs at the necropolis located on the west bank of the
Nile, opposite Thebes (Luxor) in Egypt, published by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1917 to 1927, one of 500
atlas folio sets beautifully printed on handmade Van Gelder
paper. A magnificent, untrimmed set. In over 180 folio
plates, 25 of which are in colour and many of which are
folding, statues, paintings, treasures, and the interior plans
of the tombs themselves are reproduced in loving detail.
Insignificant edge flaws to the wrappers. Margins of a few
plates very slightly browned; altogether a very clean set.
Inconspicuous contemporary bookseller’s label of Paul Koehler, Leipzig, to covers of three volumes.
OCLC 19290154.

The conquest of Spain by the Moors and a biography of its Muslim ruler
38. DE LU N A , Miguel. Histoire des deux conquestes d’Espagne par les Mores, … Par Abdulcacim Tarif
Abentarique, … Avec la description de l’Espagne, …, la vie du grand Almansor par Ali Abensufian, …
Paris, Widow of François Muguet, 1708. 12º. Contemporary mottled calf, with richly gold-tooled spine. € 2500

First edition of the second French translation of a history of the conquest of Spain by the Moors, detailing
events from 712 to 761 A.D., a description of Spain during the same period, and a biography of Almanzor (ca.
938–1002), the Muslim ruler of the Iberian Peninsula. It was first published in Spanish in 1592, and according
to the title-page the history itself is translated from an original eight-century Arabic chronicle by “Abdulcacim
Tarif Abentarique”, but now generally considered to be directly written in Spanish by the “translator”, Miguel
de Luna (ca. 1550–1619). The same seems to be the case for the biography of Almanzor by “Ali Abensufian”.
The complete volume was translated into French for the present edition by Guy Alexis Lobineau (1666–1727).
With owner’s inscription on title-page. Some very minor waterstain in the upper margin throughout,
a couple smudges and the title-page slightly thumbed, otherwise in very good condition. Spine subtly
restored and possibly recased and bound a bit too tight.
Brunet I, cols. 16–17; not in Blackmer.

Pathological aspects of the Hajj

39. DE L A RU E , Louis Léon. Le pèlerin de la Mecque. Son hygiene – ses maladies.
Paris, Henri Jouve, 1892. Large 4º (220 × 274 mm). Printed wrappers. Sold
Rare dissertation submitted at the Faculté de médecine de Paris at the Université de France
(Université impériale) about the hygienic and pathological aspects of the Hajj pilgrimage, discuss-
ing the sanitary conditions imposed on pilgrims before departure, the life of pilgrims on board the
Arabian-bound vessels; conditions upon arrival; life in the caravan; water, food and nourishment;
climatic conditions, pathological influences; common sicknesses among pilgrims; rates of mortality;
the outbreak of cholera in 1891; medical services and treatments available; prophylaxis, local desin-
fection, and quarantine. The author had served as at the hospital in Algiers and had made the
voyage to Arabia on board the pilgrim ship “Pictavia” in 1891.
Some edge chipping due to paper stock (with clight corner loss to title), but wide-margined and
well-preserved altogether.
Pagel II, 699. Not in Macro.

26
 Detailed account of a journey from Suez to Ta’ if to meet the Sharif of Mecca
40. DI DI E R , Charles. Ein Aufenthalt bei dem Groß-Scherif von Mekka.
Leipzig, Bernhard Schlicke, 1862. Small 8º (17.5 × 12 cm). Later boards covered with marbled paper. Sold
First and only German edition of Didier’s colourful account of his journey from Suez to Ta’if to meet
the Sharif of Mecca, Abd al-Mutalib ibn Ghalib (ca. 1794–1862 or later), first published in French in
1857 as Séjour chez le Grand-Chérif de la Mekke. Didier (1805–1864) met Sir Richard Burton in Cairo
months after his famous 1853 visit to Mecca, and briefly travelled with him (Burton mentions him
in his own account of his pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina). He departed on his the present voyage
from Suez in 1854, travelling through the Sinai to the Red Sea and Jeddah on the way to Ta’if. At this
time the region was largely under Ottoman control and in 1856 they ousted Abd al-Mutalib, who had
the support of the Bedouins, and returned his predecessor and rival Muhammed bin Adb al-Muin ibn
Aun to power. Didier gives detailed accounts of the ruling families and the events of the period, and
his book served as a basis for Karl May’s German adventure story for children, In Mekka (1923).
Foxed throughout, but otherwise in good condition. An account of travels on the Arabian peninsula
that inspired adventure stories.
WorldCat (5 copies); cf. Blackmer 484 note (French ed.).

Muslim and Christian Doctrine Compared

41. [D OM I N IC US G E R M A N US DE S I L E S I A , OF M ]. Antitheses fidei, ventilabuntur in conventu S.
Petri Montis Aurei fratrum Minorum S.P. Francisci reformat[orum].
Rome, Congreg. de Propaganda Fide, 1638. 4º (227 × 163 mm). With woodcut title vignette. Contemp. limp vellum
with ms. title to spine. € 6500

Very rare polemical work, printed throughout in Arabic and Latin, that aims to compare and
contrast Christian and Muslim scripture and doctrines. Dedicated to Cardinal Barberini. The
editor Dominicus (1585–1670) taught Arabic at the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide since 1636 and
collaborated on their Bible project. His magnum opus, one of the first literal Quran translations,
was not rediscovered and published until 1883. In 1636 he published an Arabic grammar (the first
publication of the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide press to use Arabic type); in 1639 he would
produce a dictionary of vernacular Arabic. Four years in the Middle East had convinced him
that a missionary must before everything else know the vernacular language (cf. Fück, p. 78). The
present work was considered lost quite recently by Antonio García Masegosa in his study “Germán
de Silesia, Interpretatio Alcorani Litteralis, Parte I: La traducción latina” (Madrid, 2009): “Por
la misma época, publicó un tratado religioso en árabe y en latín titulado Antitheses fidei, que se
encuentra perdido en la actualidad, o que al menos no ha podido ser localizado para este trabajo”
(p. 14).
Marked brownstaining throughout with waterstain to upper corner. Still an appealing copy.
Schnurrer 248. Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an IV, 237. OCLC 491545005, 54509800.

Monumental tribute to the British Raj, with 24 photographic portraits,

17 chromolithographed coats-of-arms and 51 photographic views
42. E A S T W IC K , Edward Backhouse. The Kaisarnámah i Hind, or Lay of the Empress, a poem, in nine cantos
with appendices containing the histories of the princes of India.
London, printed for private circulation only (printed by Maclure & Macdonald), 1877–1882. 2 volumes. 1º (49 × 37
cm). With 2 lithographed title-pages, 2 lithographed frontispiece portraits, of Queen Victoria and Albert Edward,
Prince of Wales, and 24 photographic portraits, 17 chromolithographed coats-of-arms, 51 photographic views, 1 lith-
ographed view, 2 maps and 4 genealogical tables (3 double-page).Contemporary gold-tooled green morocco, each
board with large gold-tooled centre-piece representing the star of India, with in the centre the monogram “VRI”
(“Victoria Regina Imperatrix”), gilt edges (Morley, Oxford). € 75 000

27
A sumptuous and extremely rare tribute to the British Raj and a detailed
history of the princely families in India by the distinguished orientalist
Edward Backhouse Eastwick (1814–1883), prompted by the proclamation
of Queen Victoria as Empress of India in 1876. The first volume contains
three cantos, with a translation into Persian verse by Amir Jan, followed
by a history of the Nizáms of the Dakan; the second volume contains
cantos IV and V with a translation into Hindi verse by Kaviraja Syamala
Dasa of Udaipur, followed by a history of the Rájpúts.
The work is beautifully decorated, and illustrated with fine photographic
views of palaces, tombs, gates, etc., including the mausoleum of the
Emperor Humayún, the tomb of Nizámu’d–dín, the caves of Ajanta,
the Palace of Nizám, the Hall of the 66 pillars and the Jama Masjid,
the largest mosque in India. It further includes photographic portraits
and finely chromolithographed coats-of-arms of several members of the
English and Indian aristocracy.
Some smudges and spotting, the frontispiece portraits pulled loose from
the title-page, but still attached to the endleaves. The bindings show some
wear, the first volume with some stains and scratches and one headband
nearly detached. Overall in very good condition.
Blumhardt, Hindi books in the ... British Museum, col. 80; WorldCat (7 copies); for
Eastwick: Loloi, “Eastwick, Edward Backhouse (1814–1883)”, in: Encyclopedia Irancia
(online ed.).

Cairo market for Venetian cloth

43. [E G Y P T]. B AT TA , Michel. Letter signed to Niccolò Caragiani in Venice
concerning the trading conditions in Cairo for different woolen and silk fabrics.
Cairo, 20. X. 1732. 1 p. on bifolium. 220 × 335 mm. In Italian. Including text dupli-
cating an additional letter dated 26 September 1732. Verso of second leaf penned
with manuscript address panel and remains of red wax seal. € 3500

This mercantile letter in Italian from Michel Batta in Cairo to Niccolò Caragiani in Venice
contains updates on the state of the cloth market in the Egyptian capital in September and
October 1732. Various different fabrics including silks, damasks, “malarroldi woollens”, “padu-
anelli,” striped materials with “fontana” work, and others are mentioned, with the colours and
types in demand being specified in order that Caragiani might send shipments to Cairo to take
advantage of the expected winter rise in prices during the approach to Ramadan. Coffee prices
are noted also, with mention of a likely fall once the first ships arrive from Jeddah in December.
– Old folds, blank leaf with small tear along section of one fold, very good.

A woman’s voyage from Australia

to Europe via Yemen and Egypt
44. [E G Y P T–Y E M E N]. [Illustrated manuscript
journal of a voyage from Australia via the Middle East
to Europe].
[Australia, Yemen, Egypt, England, France, 29 October
1878–27 November 1881]. Large 12º (19.5 × 12 cm).
Manuscript in English in black ink, with some occa-
sional small drawings in the text. Contemporary black
cloth. Sold

28
Manuscript journal of an Englishwoman living in Australia, describing her journey back to Europe via Yemen and Egypt. Of particu-
lar interest are the detailed accounts of the Gulf of Aden, Port Said, El Qantara and the Suez Canal (only a decade after it opened):
she describes the area, some towns and villages, and the customs and appearance of the inhabitants she encounters along the way,
for example some Egyptian merchants “in white turbans and long gowns fastened with a scarf at the waist” (4 March 1879). Now
and then she illustrates her story with a small drawing. The anonymous author, a wealthy woman, was probably related (or maybe
married) to Walter Green Esq., referring to his death as the saddest day of her life. The journal starts on 29 October 1878 in Sydney,
the author leaving for Europe on 28 January 1879. On 26 February she reaches Aden, Yemen, where “several parties went on shore…
some took carriages at 3s each person & drove across to Aden town, consisting of a kind of square with a bazaar with turbaned Arabs,
Parsees, Lascars & Africans chattering and buying ...”. The journey continues through the Red Sea, reaching the Suez Canal on 4
March and England on 22 of March 1879. In September 1880 the author travels to France for a year. The diary ends on 27 November
1881 in London.
Slightly browned with a few dog-eared leaves. Binding rubbed at the extremities and spine slightly damaged at the bottom, lacking
final endleaf. Overall in very good condition.

“Ordre du jour” from the French campaign in Egypt

45. [E G Y P T I A N C A M PA IG N]. Au quartier-général de Menouf [...] Ordre du jour.
Cairo, Imprimerie nationale, 6 fructidor an 7 [23. August 1799]. Small 2º. With the woodcut symbol of the French
Republic showing Marianne, and with the header: Liberté. Egalité. Republique Francaise. € 4500

“Ordre du jour” (order of the day) from the French campaign in Egypt, published from 1799 until
1801 by the Imprimerie Nationale in Cairo headed by Jean Joseph Marcel. – “The expedition of
Napoleon Bonaparte to Egypt from 1798 until 1801 was a prelude to modernity. It was to change
permanently the traditional Arab world [...] The French brought Arabic typography to Egypt,
where it was practised under the supervision [...] of Jean Joseph Marcel [...]. Only a few days after
the French troops landed [...] they set up the Imprimerie Orientale et Française there. It was an
extraordinarily important turning point. For, leaving aside the Hebrew printing presses in Egypt
of the 16th to the 18th centuries, until this date announcements and news addressed to Arabs
there, as well as in other parts of the Arab-Islamic world, had been spread only in hand-writing or
orally, by criers, preachers or storytellers” (Glass & Roper).
Cf. Glass & Roper, The Printing of Arabic books in the Arab World, in: Middle Eastern languages and
the print revolution (2002), pp. 177–225.

The finest 19th-century Dutch work on horses

46. E E R E L M A N, Otto &

Eugenius Antonius Ludovicus
QUA DE K K E R . Paardenrassen.
Kunstalbum van een en veertig
afbeeldingen naar schilderijen van Otto
Eerelman. Met beschrijvingen door
E.A.L. Quadekker.
Zutphen, Schillemans & Van Belkum,
[1898]. Large 2º (47 × 62 cm). With 41
chromo-lithographed plates of horses
(45 × 59 cm) and several small litho-
graphs at the end of each text. 12 parts
in original wrappers, preserved in an
original richly gilt brown decorated
cloth portfolio. € 25 000

29
Extremely rare first edition, published in a very limited edition, of one of the most famous art books on horses with descriptions
by the veterinarian E.A.L. Quadekker and 41 chromo-lithographs after paintings by the celebrated Dutch animal painter Otto
Eerelman (1839–1926). The lifelike plates are indeed of impressive beauty, depicting the thoroughbreds of the world, such as Persian,
Arabian, Turkish, Belgian, Andalusian and Lipizzaner horses. Each plate is accompanied by an extensive description in which a.o. the
history, development, physics, breeding and training of the particular horse are discussed.
Some slight browning on pages; portfolio slightly worn. Very good and complete copy of this Dutch illustrated classic on horses.
Not in Podeschi.

Eyewitness account of the bombing of Algiers in 1688

47. E S PI NO S A , Antonio de. Copia de una carta que ha escrito desde la ciudad de Argel el padre procurador
Fray Antonio de Espinosa, religioso calzado del Orden de la Santissima Trinidad, redencion de cautivos, y
administrador de los cinco reales hospitales, que su sagrada religion tiene en aquella ciudad.
(Colophon: Madrid, Sebastian de Armendariz), 12 October [1688]. Small 4º
(19 × 14 cm). With a large woodcut initial with a parrot. Disbound. € 2500

Very rare first and only early edition of a letter written by the Spanish friar Antonio de
Espinosa at Algiers, after the city had been bombed by the French navy in 1688. Espinosa
worked as an administrator at the hospitals of the Trinitarian Order in the city. He
describes the arrival of the French fleet on 26 June, the diplomatic actions between the
French and the ruler of Algiers, and the subsequent bombing of the city. The bombing
led to reciprocal trials and executions by Algiers’s government against the non-native
inhabitants of the city, to whom Espinosa belonged. Algiers was an important base for
pirates, who started attacking French ships after the city had signed a peace treaty with
Great Britain. The French responded with bombardments in 1683 and 1688, which led to
a peace treaty in 1690.
Browned and with a water stain in the upper margin, otherwise in good condition.
Palau 82664; WorldCat (1 copy).

Illustrated travels through the Middle East

48. E U T I NG , Julius and Enno L I T T M A N N (editor). Tagbuch einer reise in Inner-Arabien. Erster [-Zweiter]
theil.
Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1896–1914. 2 volumes bound as 1. 8º. With a lithographed map (and a loosely inserted repeat), a
frontispiece to the second part, and numerous illustrations in text showing excavation sites, monuments, ruins and
artefacts, but also some views and everyday scenes. Contemporary purple half cloth, author in gold on spine. € 8500
First edition of a travelogue through the Middle East, written by the German scholar and
traveler Julius Euting (1839–1913). “In 1883 Euting left Strasbourg to embark on a two-year
expedition to the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula, his intentions being to trace the
pre-Islamic history of Arabia through the study of its inscriptions and stone monuments”
(Howgego). In the following years, Euting returned to the Middle East several times,
mostly to explore other monuments and ruins. The present work covers Euting’s first
journey, starting in August 1883. During this extensive journey, he visited Alexandria, Cairo,
Jerusalem, Damascus, Palmyra, Ha’il, Tayma, and many other places. The second part of
Euting’s journal was published posthumously in 1914, edited by the German orientalist Enno
Littmann (1875–1958). Both parts contain an index in Arabic.
Slightly browned with some occasional underscoring in pencil. Binding rubbed along the
extremities and with a few stains on the fore-edge. Overall in good condition.
Howgego, 1850–1940, E20; not in Atabey; Blackmer.

30
 Autograph letter by the orientalist Euting
49. E U T I NG , Julius, librarian and oriental scholar (1839–1913). Autograph letter
signed.
Strasbourg, 4 January 1878. 8º. Bifolium. € 2500

To an unidentified recipient regarding the estate of the African and Polar explorer Theodor von
Heuglin (1824–76), returning several oriental papers with his own pencil annotations. Euting
studied theology and oriental languages in Tübingen, took a Ph.D. degree in 1862 and continued
his oriental studies in Paris, London, and Oxford before embarking on a career as a librarian at the
universities of Tübingen and Strasbourg.
On stationery with printed letterhead “Kaiserliche Universitäts- und Landes-Bibliothek,
Straßburg”.

One of the earliest Western documents of Arabic epigraphy

50. FA Z E L L O, Tommaso, OP. De rebus Siculis decades duae.
Palermo, Giovanni Matteo Mayda & Giovanni Francesco Carrara, 1558. 2º
(227 × 302 mm). With large woodcut on title page and double-page woodcut of
Arabic characters. 17th-c. vellum. All edges sprinkled in red. € 9500

First edition of this rare history of Sicily, compiled at the command of Paolo Giovio by the
Sicilian-born Dominican friar Tommaso Fazello (1490–1570). Includes a double-page woodcut
plate of an old inscription found on the walls of the Porta de’ Patitelli, the so-called Torre
Baych: it was formerly thought to be a Chaldaic inscription stating that the tower was built by
a grandson of Esau. The tower has been since been demolished, but the inscription is preserved,
and subsequent scholarship identified the text as Quran verses dating from the 4th century AH.
With this work, Fazello single-handedly created modern Sicilian historiography. The island was
conquered by the Arabs in the 9th century and remained under Muslim suzerainity for two and
a half centuries. The Arabs introduced new methods of irrigation, thereby significantly boosting
agricultural development. Under their rule, Palermo rose to the rank of Sicily’s foremost city.
Quires A and B transposed. Variously browned and brownstained throughout; occasional
insignificant worming near gutter. A good copy of a rare work.
Adams F 203. BM-STC Italian 244. Mira I, 346. Edit 16, CNCE 18660. Ebert 7389. Brunet II, 1198. OCLC
20267992.

24 highly expressive etchings of horses

51. F I R E N S , [Pierre]. Album of horse etchings.
[Paris, early 17th century]. Oblong 12º (124 × 78 mm).
24 etchings of horses, each ca. 8 × 5 cms, mounted indi-
vidually on leaves and bound as an album. Modern
full vellum using contemporary material. € 4500

A complete series of 24 highly expressive etchings of horses,

each numbered in the plate and bound (somewhat out of
order) in an appealing pocket-sized vellum album. The
engraver Pierre Firens (ca. 1580–1636) was of Flemish origin,
probably hailing from Antwerp, but settled in Paris in
1604, soon operating as a publisher and engraver mainly of
ornaments. This is a charming suite of two dozen portraits
showing horses in various attitudes; the first print is signed.
Very finely preserved. Uncommon.
For Firens cf. AKL XL, 251; Thieme/Becker XII, 7.

31
 Including the famous views of Mecca and Medina
52. F I S C H E R VON E R L AC H, Johann Bernhard. Entwurf einer historischen Architektur.
Leipzig, 1725. Royal 2º (540 × 410 mm). 5 volumes in 1. With engr. title page, engr. dedication, 5 engr. half-titles and
86 engr. plates (3 folded, 1 map). Contemp. full calf with giltstamped red morocco label to richly gilt spine. All edges
red. € 35 000

First edition of this splendid work, which was reprinted five

times until 1742 (including an English edition). The first
three volumes deal with historical and legendary monuments
(among them the seven wonders of the ancient world as well as
monuments of the “Arabs and the Turks”). The fourth volume
is dedicated to buildings of Fischer von Erlach himself; the fifth
volume shows vases and sarcophagi.
Binding slightly rubbed, some dampstaining near end, otherwise
a fine, wide-margined and complete copy.
Nebehay/Wagner 176. Ornamentstichslg. Berlin 2105. Fowler 121. Schlosser
438. Thieme/B. XII, 48. Millard III, 31. Kruft 205/687. Museum of Islamic Art,
Hajj – The journey through art, p. 48f. (illustration).

In refutation of Grotius
53. F R E I TA S , Seraphim de. De iusto imperio Lusitanorum Asiatico. [...] Ad
Philippum IIII. potentissimum Hispaniarum, & Indiarum monarcham.
Valladolid, Hieronymus Morillo, 1625. 4º. (8), 190, (28) ff. Title printed in red and
black with woodcut arms of Spain. Modern brown calf, gilt spine in five compart-
ments with two red labels. € 15 000

Rare first edition. The principal printed justification of Portugal’s imperial claims in the East
Indies in the face of the attack posed by Hugo Grotius’s “Mare liberum”. Freitas’s treatise is a
powerful refutation of Grotius, claiming that the sovereign has the right to refuse admission
of commerce or foreigners to his territory and forbid his subjects all trade and intercourse with
them. – Calf somewhat worn. Some minor marginal dampstaining and foxing, with some
20 leaves quite heavily browned. From the library of Swedish antiquarian bookdealer Björn
Löwendahl (1941–2013).
Palau III, 275. Not in Kress or Goldsmiths’.

Arabic Versification
54. F R E Y TAG , Georg Wilhelm. Darstellung der arabischen Verskunst mit sechs Anhängen.
Bonn/Leipzig, in Commission bei Carl Cnobloch, 1830. 8º. German & Arabic text.
Contemp. marbled boards with giltstamped spine label; sprinkled edges. € 2500

First edition of this compendium of Arabic versification. The German classicist and theologian Freytag
(1788–1861) studied at Göttingen, but in his final year accepted an appointment as sub-librarian at
Königsberg. In 1815 he became a chaplain in the Prussian Army and visited Paris in that capacity. Upon
the proclamation of peace Freytag resigned his chaplaincy and returned to his research in Arabic,
Persian, and Turkish, studying in Paris under Silvestre de Sacy. In 1819 he was appointed to the profes-
sorship of Oriental Languages at the new University of Bonn, and he held this post until his death. His
principal work was the “Lexicon Arabico-Latinum” (Halle, 1830–1837), an abridgment of which was
published in 1837. – Occasional browning; slight chipping to spine; early Swiss ownerships (“Dahler”,
“R. Tschudi”, “Meier”) to flyleaf. Stamp of “Stadt-Bibliothek Zürich” on upper cover; deaccessioned
from the Zentralbibliothek Zürich (stamp on reverse of t. p.).
Zenker I, 342. Fück 166. Gay 3361.

32
 Important and early photobook on the Near East
55. F R I T H, Francis. Egypt and Palestine. Photographed and described.
London, James S. Virtue, [1858–1859]. 2 vols. 2º (328 × 447 mm). A total of 76 photographs on plates by Francis Frith
(sizes ca. 145–165 × 215–230 mm), each with a separate leaf of text. Contemporary red morocco, spines and covers gilt.
Marbled endpapers; all edges gilt. € 40 000

First edition of this important and early

photobook on the Near East. During the
years 1856–59, Frith made three visits to
Egypt and the Holy Land; this selection
of his photographs, from wet-collodion
9-by-7 negatives taken with an 8-by-10 inch
camera, was published in 25 fascicles of 3
prints each, a work hailed as “one of the
most renowned nineteenth-century pho-
tobooks” (The Photobook). Most of these
images are dated 1857 either in the plate or
the printed caption. They include a portrait
of the artist in oriental costume folgen
and views of Abu Simbel, Aswan, Baalbek,
Bethlehem, Damascus, Giza, Hebron,
Jerusalem, Karnak, Luxor, Nazareth,
Philae, Tiberias, Wadi Kardassy etc.
Some foxing to blank margins, as well as to
a few photographs. Modern bookplate of
the German anthropologist Jasper Köcke. Bindings very slightly rubbed, but hinges somewhat brittle;
unobtrusive chafe-mark to upper cover of vol. 2. Overall a fine, appealingly bound copy.
The Photobook I, 28. Blackmer 1942. Hannavy 561. Gernsheim, History 286. Perez, Focus East 165. Van Haaften-White XII & XV.

The Royal stud at Frederiksborg: the complete set of lithographs, coloured by hand
56. G E B AU E R , Christian David. Det Kongelige danske Stutteri.
Kopenhagen, Königl. Kunstakademie, 1822(–1827). Oblong large 2º (570 × 419 mm). Lithogr. illustrated title, 2 ff.
of text, 16 mostly coloured lithogr. plates showing horses (c. 33 × 45 cm, paper dimensions c. 40 × 55 cm; some with
borders), 5 (instead of 6) ff. of descriptive letterpress text (the missing page supplied in ink). Contemp. half calf with
giiltstamped spine label. € 45 000

Extremely rare and early series of litho-

graphs. The large and appealingly coloured
plates depict important stallions and mares
from the famous Danish Royal Stud at
Frederiksborg (Pegasus, Flink, Zephir,
Palnatoke, and Velskat, among others).
All horses are branded with a monogram
and often also with the crown. The publi-
cation was originally planned to comprise
12 issues of 4 plates each but no more than
the first four were produced. Two plates are
trimmed and mounted on different backing
paper (one with a repaired tear). Text shows
foxing, but plates are generally clean.
Binding somewhat rubbed and bumped at
extremeties, with damage to spine.
Nissen 1499. Not in Schwerdt or Mennessier de la
Lance.

33
34
 Magnificent French Renaissance colour drawings of birds,
including falcons and other birds of preyin a beautiful contemporary “ fanfare” binding
57. [G OU R DE L L E , Pierre?]. [Title on the spine of the modern box:] Recueil de dessins d’oiseaux.
[Paris or Lyons?], [ca. 1550/60]. Royal 2º (42.5 × 29 cm), mostly in 4s. With a full-page coat of arms of the
first owner in coloured gouaches and gold (on an oval shield: azure, a chevron or, between 3 stags’ heads
caboshed), probably of the arms of Charuel (Paris?) or Bourdin; and 58 watercolour drawings of birds (and
a bat) on 50 leaves, with the paper glazed and some drawings with highlights in gold. Contemporary (1560s)
richly gold-tooled light brown calf, each board in a “fanfare” design, with strapwork and stylized plant dec-
oration (with the calf darker in the strapwork and some of the plant decorations), each of the 8 spine spine
compartments with the same stylized plant decorations, fillets on board edges, gilt edges. In a 20th-century
black morocco clamshell box with a perspex front (so that the binding remains visible in the closed box) and
“Pierre Gourdelle–Recueil de dessins d’oiseaux” in gold on the spine. € 2 800 000

A magnificent book of large and finely executed French Renaissance watercolour drawings of a wide variety of birds, mostly
with a single large drawing (up to about 25 cm tall) on the recto of each leaf, but a few leaves show 2, 3 or 4 drawings of
smaller birds together on one page to give 58 drawings on the 50 leaves. It is one of the earliest known series of French
ornithological drawings and one of the best and most extensive Renaissance bird books. It shows 14 different varieties of
birds of prey, including falcons, hawks, eagles, owls, a vulture and a buzzard. Two of the falcons are shown with jesses,
probably a lanner falcon (Falco biarmicus) and a kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), the former also with a bell. A lesser fish eagle
(Ichthyophaga humilis) is shown devouring a fish and a buzzard(?) devouring a snake. The book also includes a wide variety
of water birds, song birds in colourful plumage (including a kingfisher), an occasional exotic species (parrot, parakeet,
peacock) and even a bat. Following mythological tradition the pelican is shown feeding its young with its own blood and
the wholly mythological phoenix is shown rising up out of the flames. To a mid-16th-century audience these may have
appeared more plausible than the peacock.
Several of the drawings show some relation to the woodcuts in Pierre Belon, L’ histoire de la nature des oyseaux (Paris, 1555),
and a few are close enough to suggest that one must be based on the other or both on the same source: the bat (16: Belon,
p. 114), long-eared owl (18: Belon, p. 136), vulture (43: Belon, p. 84) and no doubt others. But some (such as the peacock)
only show a general similarity while others give a completely different rendering of the same or a similar species. Each work
includes some species wholly absent in the other, including the present phoenix.
When the Musée Condé exhibited “Livres du cabinet de Pierre Berès” at Chateau Chantilly in 2003/04, they studied the
present drawings and concluded that they were older than Belon’s 1555 woodcuts, suggesting that some of the drawings
served as models for the woodblock cutter. Belon’s preliminary note to the reader says (a4r), «Mais entre les autres, ne
voulants celer les noms de ceux qui nous y ont le plus servy, avons usé de l’artifice de maistre Pierre Goudet [recté Gourdet
or Gourdelle] Parisien, peintre vrayment ingenieux». For this reason, the present series of drawings is attributed to
Gourdelle.
By ca. 1725 the book had apparently come into British hands, for an English manuscript note accompanying an index of the
drawings on the front paste-down refers to the dispersal of Jean Grolier’s library “about fifty years ago”, an allusion to Le
Caille’s claim that the library remained intact until 1675/76 (this has been shown not to be true and may allude to the 1676
sale of the library of Jean Ballesdens (1595–1675), who had many books from Grolier’s library). The British owner who wrote
the note suggests that this book came from Grolier’s library, but may have simply supposed that based on the style of the
binding. Another anonymous English note, on leaf 10, refers to the shooting of a bustard in Dorsetshire in 1781. The book
has a 19th-century armorial bookplate of Thomas Snodgrass, with motto, “beata petamus arva”. Pierre Berès acquired it
from H.P. Kraus in New York in January 1949.
In very good condition. A remarkably early set of fine and large French ornithologial watercolour drawings showing 58
varieties of birds, including falcons and other birds of prey, in a contemporary fanfare binding.
Pierre Bergé, Pierre Berès: 80 ans de passion, IV, Paris, 20 June 2006, lot 16; for the binding style: Hobson, Les relieures à la fanfare, 1970, p. 4, no. 13;
for the only comparable manuscript we have located: Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Catalogue général des manuscripts, p. 267, ms. no. 1914.

35
 An unpublished manuscript travelogue to the Middle East, with 29 original drawings
58. G I A N N I, Vittorio. Notizie, ed aventure veridiche di un viaggio intrapreso da una persona di condizione
privata [...] di Urbino [...], sino a Costantinopoli; e del ritorno suo [...].
Middle East, 1769–1770. 2º (235 × 170 mm). Italian manuscript in two parts with 29 original pen and ink drawings
(15 and 14), written in black ink in a neat, legible hand, 28 lines to a page. Contemp. half vellum over marbled paper
boards. Generally written on both recto and verso, except for the two title-pages and the illustrations (recto only); all
but first and last page enclosed with a single line border, in pencil for text pages and in ink for illustrations. € 90 000
A unique account of a journey from Urbino to Constantinople and back, in 1769–70, hand-written and accompanied by 29 original
drawings, which offer views of islands rarely if ever depicted in contemporary travel accounts or series. No counterpart has been
found for the illustrations, which appear to have been prepared from eye-witness records. That the artist may have been the author
himself is suggested by the fact
that he makes no mention of a
separate artist, and by the manner
in which he introduces the first
illustration: ‘Il Paise è piccolo
come vedrassi della figura, che di
curiosita, ed intelligenza di lettori
porro a piedi di questo capitolo’.
The value of this book lies not only
in the unique, unpublished text
and illustrations, and legible and
attractive presentation, but also
in the combination of common-
ly-found themes such as dress and
customs, with an entirely personal
and richly-told narrative of one
man’s search for his son.
One illustration (Smirne) has
been trimmed along the right
edge after having been bound in.
Etched armorial bookplate of an
unidentified noble bishop on front
pastedown.

Attractive edition with hand-coloured personified flowers, engraved after Grandville

59. G R A N DV I L L E , Jean-Ignace-Isidore. Les fleurs animées. Texte par
Alph. Karr, Taxille Delord & Le Cte Foelix. Nouvelle edition avec planches
très-soigneusement retouchées pour la gravure et le coloris par M. Maubert.
Paris, Garnier Frères, 1867. 2 volumes. Large 8º. With 2 hand-coloured fron-
tispieces, 52 steel engravings, of which 50 hand-coloured, by Ch. Geoffroy
after Grandville and numerous wood-engraved vignettes in the text.
Contemporary blind-tooled dark green buckram, gold-tooled spine, silk
endpapers, gilt edges. € 2500

Attractive edition of a well-known and popular work by the French caricaturist Jean-
Ignace-Isidore Grandville (1803–1847), in which flowers are depicted as women. Some
pages with musical scores. With in volume I a plate with ‘Tabac’, (opposite p. 69), and in
volume II a plate with ‘Thé et café’ (opposite p. 125).
Although unmarked, this copy comes from the library of Maximilian Joseph, Duke
in Bavaria (1808–1888), lover of books and horses and father of Elisabeth, Empress of
Austria (1837–1898) (‘Sisi’). Some waterstaining and foxing; stamp of ‘Marie Therese’ on
endpaper. Good set of a charming colour plate book illustrated with anthropomorphic
flower representations.
Vicaire III, pp. 133–35.

36
 Manuscript copy of the first great manual of horsemanship since Xenophon
60. [G R I S ON E , Federico]. Ordini di cavalcare.
Including:
Scielta di notabili avvertimenti pertinenti a’ cavalla, …
[Italy, ca. 1725?]. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4º (20 × 15 cm). Manuscript in Italian, in dark brown ink on paper in a steeply
sloped Italian hand, with a full-page ink drawing of a horse, 50 full-page ink drawings of elaborate bits, each
different, and 2 ink-drawn plans of training grounds. Further with 3 pen-drawn baroque decorated initials. Later
18th-century sheepskin parchment. € 5500

An 18th-century Italian manuscript copy of the first

great manual of horsemanship since Xenophon, by
Federico Grisone, first published in 1550 and here
together with the second part, first published in 1571.
It includes numerous illustrations, most notably the 50
full-page illustrations of elaborate bits, each different,
discussed in the text. Part 1 is a detailed manual for
breaking and training of horses, using methods now
considered cruel, abusive and counterproductive.
Part 2 is a handbook of equine veterinary medicine
covering a wide variety of diseases and other ailments
and their treatment. Each of the 60 numbered points
marked on the illustration of a horse is associated with
a named disease of other ailment.
The ink has caused some browning and has sometimes
eaten through the paper, resulting in some damage
to the drawings of bits and leaving them fragile.
Otherwise in good condition. A late manuscript copy
of the first great manual of horsemanship since classical times.
For Grisone and the printed editions: Dejager, pp. 158–177; Podeschi 7.

Rare offprint of an article on Arabic Spain,

including the first French translation of an elegy on the fall of Seville
61. G R A NG E R E T DE L AG R A NG E , Jean-Baptiste-André. Les Arabes en Espagne.
Paris, Dondey-Dupré and sons, 1824. 8º. Contemporary paste paper wrappers. € 1250

Rare offprint of an article on the Arab conquest of Spain based on Arab sources. The
first part describes the conquest by Abd al-Rahman of the Visigothic Kingdom and the
establishment of the Caliphate of Córdoba. In the second part, the author describes the
poetry of the region with admiration, before giving the first (annotated) translation into
French of the elegy written by Abu al-Baqa’ al-Rundi (1204–1285) on the occasion of the
conquest of several Moorish cities by Castile in 1267. In it, al-Rundi describes the fall of
several civilizations including the Persian Empire and the Umayyad Caliphate, before
lamenting the fall of several Andalusian cities and finally urging the Arabs of North-
Africa “living tranquil and serene” to come to the aid of their brethren in Spain.
Jean-Baptiste-André Grangeret de Lagrance (1790–1859) was a French Arabist and trans-
lator of Arab poetry. He had studied Arabic and Persian with Silvestre de Sacy. In 1822
he became one of the founders of the Journal asiatique, in which Les Arabes en Espagne
was published.
Binding somewhat worn and some browning at the edges; a good copy.
WorldCat (5 copies); cf. Pouillon (ed.), Dictionnaire des orientalistes de langue française, nouv. éd., p. 485;
Melville & Ubayadli, Christians and Moors in Spain, p. 145.

37
 Seminal work on the architecture of Constantinople
62. GU R L I T T, Cornelius. Die Baukunst Konstantinopels.
Berlin, [Wasmuth], 1912. 2 vols. Elephant 2º. 224 text illus. (some in colour), 204 plates (7 double-page; 2 coloured),
showing photographs, measured drawings, ground plans, etc. Loose as issued in original board portfolio. € 15 000
First editon; rare. An important survey of the architecture of
Constantinople, concentrating mainly on religious buildings.
The extensive scope covers the major mosques of the Ottomans,
as well as Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia, Hagios Theodoros
and the Byzantine land walls. The plates depict interior and
exterior views, architectural details, street scenes, plans, and
elevations. A panoramic and comprehensive overview of many
centuries of architectural evolution in Istanbul.
Some plates evenly browned (as usual); a few plates a bit frayed.
Spines repaired with tape. Very scare, and virtually impossible
to obtain: the last copy at Sothebys sold for £13 150 in 2002. The
only other copy available in the trade has library stamps on every
plate.
Atabey 545. The Ottoman World II, Cat. Sotheby’s, 28 May 2002, lot 537. Not
in Blackmer.

The first treatment of post-Copernican astronomy

by a Muslim scholar
63. H A K K I, Erzurumlu Ibrahim. Marifetname.
Bulaq, al-Matbaa ül-Kubra, 1255 AH (= 1835 AD). 2º (190 × 285 mm). Modern
green binding. € 8500

First edition of the “Book of Gnosis”, an encyclopedic Ottoman Turkish work by Hakki
(Ibrahim El-Haqqi, 1703–80?) on astronomy, mathematics, anatomy, psychology, philos-
ophy, and Sufi mysticism. Compiled from 400 sources and completed in 1757, the book
was written in a layman’s language. It is famous for containing the first treatment of
post-Copernican astronomy by a Muslim scholar.
Well preserved in a modern binding.
Zenker I, 1709. Özege, M.S. Eski Harflerle Basilmis Türkçe Eserler Katalogu III, p. 1025, no. 12259. OCLC
21607393.

Pioneering specimen of a catalogue

of oriental manuscripts in the Leiden library
64. H A M A K E R , Hendrik Arent. Specimen catalogi codicum mss.
orientalium bibliothecae academiae Lugduno-Batavae.
Leiden, S. & J. Luchtmans, 1820. Large 4º (220 × 261 mm). Contemporary
half calf with giltstamped red spine label and sparsely gilt spine. Edges
lightly sprinkled in red. € 4500

Only edition. – Pioneering specimen of a catalogue of oriental manuscripts in the

Leiden library, with extensive extracts in Arabic, produced by H. A. Hamaker
(1789–1835). “The descriptions of a mere twelve items on 238 pages illustrate the
diligence with which the author attends to each and every title. Indeed, the final
MS, the ‘Qamus al-Muhit’ of Firuzabadi, is discussed on no fewer than 60 pages.
Each author is provided with extensive biographical excerpts with Latin transla-
tions, to which are added extremely detailed discussions of scholarly literature. Had

38
Hamaker kept up this method for all the oriental MSS in Leiden, estimated at a number of some ten thousand, he should have wanted
about 25 000 pages, not to mention hundreds of pages of indices. It is thus questionable whether Hamaker intended more with his
‘Specimen’ than to provide an example of an ideality which was to promote his planned catalogue [...]. And yet, had he been able to
realize this ideal with the help of other scholars, this would have given to the world a source-based work of reference which would
have preserved its value to this day, not superseded either by Brockelmann’s ‘Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur’ nor by Sezgin’s
‘Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums’” (cf. B. Liebrenz, Arabische, persische und türkische Handschriften in Leipzig [Leipzig
2008], p. 73).
Some creases to paper; binding rubbed and chafed in places. A good copy from the library of the Dutch theologian Christiaan
Jacobus van der Vlis (1813–42) with his handwritten ownership on the front pastedown.
Besterman 4352. Brunet III, 26f. & VI, 31385. Cf. Fück 181 (for Hamaker).

Autograph manuscript of a poem

65. H A M M E R-PU RG S TA L L , Joseph von, oriental scholar
(1774–1856). “Triolet”. Autograph manuscript of a poem signed.
No place, 1 May 1839. 4º. 1 p. € 2500

For a consul general: “Triolet // Le premier jour du mois de Mai / Fut le plus hereux
de ma vie. / Fanchin // So eben dacht ich heut am ersten Mai / An Fanchins hoch-
berühmtes Triolet, / Und wie die Jahre längstens schon vorbei / Da Sylvien ich sah
am ersten Mai. / Da brachte mir Dein Both des Blattes Reih / Die im Geschenk
des Buchs an mich besteht, / Drum sende ich Dir heut am ersten Mai / Als Dank
für den Quatrain dies Triolet [...]”.
A fine fair copy, probably intended as a gift.

“a vivid account of the pernicious influence of secret societies under weak governments,
and of the hideous abuse of religion”
66. H A M M E R-PU RG S TA L L , Joseph von. Die Geschichte der Assassinen aus morgenländischen Quellen.
Stuttgart & Tübingen, J. G. Cotta, 1818. 8º. Contemp. half calf with gilt spine and labels in red and black; covers
and edges marbled. € 3500

First edition. – The first extensive history of the medieval Muslim sect of the Assassins,
a radical group from whose name the English term for a political or religious killer is
derived. Acting from a strong ideological conviction, the Assassins aimed to re-estab-
lish a theocracy, the basic Islamic order bequeathed by the Prophet, as they felt their
contemporary world order to be usurped by tyrants. Most of their victims were Sunni
Muslims, especially the Seljuk rulers of the 12th and 13 centuries.
For this history, Hammer-Purgstall draws from a wide variety of mainly oriental
sources (Ibn Khaldun, Jihannuma, Abulfeda, Persian and Turkish chronicles, with a
small number of western studies included), all of which he lists at the beginning, and
ultimately compares the mediaeval sect to the modern fanatics of his own day, particu-
larly the Jacobin party of the French Revolution. Among the goals which he wishes to
have achieved with his book, he writes, is to have “given a vivid account of the perni-
cious influence of secret societies under weak governments, and of the hideous abuse of
religion for purposes of committing atrocities of unscrupulous ambition and unfettered
despotism”.
Slight browning, but a good, finely bound copy. Provenance: from the Thun-
Hohenstein library in Decín (Tetschen) with their armorial stamp “Tetschner
Bibliothek” on the reverse of the title page. When the castle was requisitioned by the
Czechoslovakian army in 1933, the library was transferred to Prague and dispersed to
the trade.
Goedeke VII, 762, 47. Wurzbach VII, 274, I B 1. FRA 70 (1940), p. 572. Cf. Atabey 556; Blackmer 787
(English ed.).

39
 14 hand-coloured aquatint plates of racehorses
67. H E R R I NG , John Frederick, Sr. Portraits of the winning horses of the Great St. Leger Stakes, at Doncaster,
from the year 1815 to the present year inclusive.
London, S. and J. Fuller (printed by L. Harrison), [1828]. Imperial 2º (60 × 42 cm). With engraved vignette on the
letterpress title-page, 14 hand-coloured aquatint plates by T. Sutherland and R. G. Reeve after Herring, each with
information on a separate letterpress leaf. Contemporary plain boards with publisher’s printed label wrapper-title on
front board (rebacked with burgundy half morocco and matching corners). € 95 000

“Extremely rare” (Tooley) 1828 edition

of Herring’s finest work, the outcome
of his fascination with horse racing
in general and the St. Leger Stake in
particular. “In the writer’s estimation,
the first series of the St. Leger winners
contains the very best of Herring prints
. . . they were engraved by Sutherland, a
more competent aquatinter and colourist
than his successors who handled these
race-horses” (Siltzer).
This is the second edition of this series
of wonderful racehorse portraits.
Very slight offsetting to text. Boards
darkened and worn at the edges, inter-
nally in fine condition and untrimmed.
A rare work with beautiful horse plates
and detailed information.
Cf. Podeschi 128 (1824 ed. with different title,
with 10 plates plus extra plate for 1825); Siltzer
139–146 (various eds.).

Post-incunable edition of the travels of the Dutch Sir John Mandeville,

visiting Egypt and the lands of Prester John
68. H E SE , Johannes Witte de. Itinerarius Joannis de Hese presbyteri a Hierusalem describens dispotiones
terra[rum] insular[um] montiu[m] et aquar[um]. Ac etiam queda[m] mirabilia et p[er]icula per diversas p[ar]tes mu[n]
di continge[n]tia lucidissime enarrans.
(Colophon: Deventer, Jacobus de Breda, 1504). Small 4º (20.5 × 14.5 cm). Rubricated in red throughout and the blank
spaces for initials are left open. Including the last blank leaf. Modern calf in period style. € 45 000

Rare third Deventer edition of a popular account of the fictional travels made by one
Johannes Witte de Hese, a cleric from the diocese of Utrecht in the Netherlands,
often compared to the classic account of the travels of Sir John Mandeville. His
travels start in Jerusalem in 1389 (in this edition actualized to 1489) where he departs
for Egypt, observing many curiosities, including monstrous flying fish in the Red
Sea, a hermit feeding on manna, and a unicorn detoxifying a stream poisoned by
desert serpents. From Damietta, Egypt, he boards a ship to Ethiopia (“interior
India”), meanwhile observing pygmies fighting against storks, one-eyed cannibals
and a sea of sand, when he is briefly taken captive. Six weeks later he arrives in Prester
John’s capital of Edissa, and marvels at Prester John’s enormous palace. During
their stay they visit the city of Hulna, with the Church of Saint Thomas, which is
a four-day walk from Edissa. Before returning to Jerusalem, Witte de Hese spends
more than a year roaming the remotest parts of the seas, during which he visits
Purgatory and even catches a glimpse of Eden.
The main text is followed by a treatise on the ten nations of Christianity, a letter from
the putative sultan of Babylon “Joannes” — here addressed to Pope Pius II (1458–1464)
but actually written at least a century earlier —, a brief papal response to that letter,

40
the popular 12-century Letter of Prester John, an account of Prester John’s visit to Rome and two geographical treatises on “India”.
Some spots on title-page and minor thumbing in the lower and right margins throughout, otherwise in very good condition.
Nijhoff & Kronenberg 1217 (5 copies, incl. 2 lacking last blank); Tiele, Bibl. 480 note; USTC (9 copies, incl. 5 the same); S.D. Westrem, Broader horizons: a study
of Johannes Witte de Hese’s Itinerarius and medieval travel narratives (2001).

Massive navigational directory, expanded with much information on Arabia and the Gulf
69. HOR S BU RG H, James. The India directory, or, directions for sailing to and from the East Indies, China,
Australia, and the interjacent ports of Africa and South America ... Fifth edition.
London, Wm. H. Allen & co. (back of title-pages: printed by J.L. Cox & sons), 1841–1843. 2 volumes. 4º.
Contemporary calf. € 15 000

Revised and expanded fifth edition of a massive navigational directory, with exhaus-
tive information on the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the Arabian Gulf. Including
detailed entries on Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi (“Abothubbee”) and Bahrain, not
only covering navigational details, but also its inhabitants, pearl fishery, geography,
commerce etc., and shorter entries on islands such Sir Bani Yas, Zirku etc. For this
edition “much additional information on the coast of Arabia, the Persian Gulf, the
River Indus, and the Maldiva Islands, has been added from the admirable surveys
conducted under their authority by the officers of the Indian Navy” (preface).
It is chiefly compiled from recent journals of ships employed by the East India
Company, by James Horsburgh (1762–1836) hydrographer and chart maker to the
company.
With the owner’s inscription of Capt. Seward P. Emmons (1825–1922) and one or two
annotations in the margins. Slightly browned throughout, some occasional spots, a
few minor smudges and a small piece of paper of ca. 1 cm., accidently stuck to p. 97
of volume 1 (in the margins), otherwise in good condition. Bindings with some minor
restorations to the hinges, but otherwise very good. A massive navigational directory.
Cat. NHSM, p. 73; Sabin 33047 (vol. 2 other ed.?); for the author: Cook, “Horsburgh, James (1762–
1836)”, in: ODNB (online ed.).

The famous stud of the King of Württemberg

70. H ÜG E L , J[ulius] Frhr. von and G. F. S C H M I D T. Die Gestüte und Meiereien Seiner Majestät des Königs
Wilhelm von Württemberg.
Stuttgart, Ebner & Seubert, [1861]. Large 8º. With 7 colour plates (some folding) and numerous text illustrations.
Publisher’s blind- and giltstamped orange cloth. € 2500

Rare first edition of this study of the famous stud

of Wilhelm, King of Württemberg. W. R. Brown
states that the Royal stud was run from 1852 to 1871
by Baron Julius von Hügel, who purchased valuable
stock from the Egyptian stud of Abbas Pasha, “thus
raising it to the highest standard of excellence”
(The Horse of the Desert, p. 161/166). Al Khamsa
researchers relied upon this text as a source for the
Al Khamsa Arabians II Europa Foundation Stock
information. While a reprint was produced in 1973,
the book has not been published in an English
translation; Judith Forbis explains that her summary
statements about von Hügel’s book are based upon a
private translation by author Erika Schiele.
Old ownership “Pabst” to flyleaf. Some foxing
throughout, still a good copy.
Not in Huth.

41
 Finely coloured leporello of human history
71. H U L L , Edward. Deacon’s Pictorial and Descriptive Synchronological Chart of Universal History in Seven
Languages. With maps of the World’s Great Empires and a complete geological diagram of the earth. Multicoloured
leporello in 14 parts.
London, Deacon & Co., [ca. 1890]. 2º (375 × 535 mm). Printed on one side, measuring 5.25 metres in total. Original
black faux leather cloth with giltstamped title. Sold
Elaborate and lavishly coloured leporello map showing a chronology of human
history from Adam and Eve to Thomas Alva Edison. Drawn by the Irish geologist
Edward Hull (1829–1917) on the basis of the Christian creation story, after designs
by the Anglican theologian James Ussher (1584–1656), who had dated the moment of
creation to October 23rd, 4004 B.C. Parallel streams of history display the principal
political epochs, empires and personages, as well as milestones of history in philoso-
phy, culture, economy and technology, with much statisical data, always maintaining
a Christian, European focus. The captions are in English, while the introductory text
in the “key or plan” is in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and
Dutch. – Binding and leoprello folds professionally repaired in places. A good, clean
copy of thei monumental and rare map, printed in exceptionally crisp colour.

Rare anthology of Arabic poetry

72. H U M BE RT, Jean (ed.). Anthologie arabe, ou choix de poésies arabes inédites.
Paris, Treuttel & Würtz, 1819. 8º. Contemporary dark green boards with giltstamped
black spine label. Marbled endpapers. € 2800

Rare anthology of Arabic poetry with Arabic text and French translations printed on opposite pages
as well as literal Latin translations and notes. Jean Humbert (1792–1851), a Geneva clergyman,
learned Arabic in Paris under the auspices of Silvestre de Sacy and later pioneered the Arabic curric-
ulum at the University of Geneva.
Extremeties and hinges somewhat bumped; some browning throughout. A good copy.
GAL II, 479 (for the writings of Michel Sabbagh, pp. 291ff. in the Anthology). Cf. Fück 156 (for Humbert).

America’s first Arabian stallion

73. H U N T I NG T ON, Randolph. History in brief of “Leopard” and “Linden,” General Grant’s Arabian
stallions, presented to him by the Sultan of Turkey in 1879.
[Philadelphia, PA], J. B. Lippincott Co. for the author, 1885. Large 4º. With 5 plates. Original giltstamped green
cloth. All edges gilt. € 2500

First edition of this contemporary account of the Arabian stallions

presented to General Grant in 1879 by the Sultan of Turkey; “Leopard”
went on to achieve eternal fame as the first Arabian stallion to be regis-
tered in the stud book of the Arabian Horse Club of America.
Occasional chipping as common, still a very good copy from the library
of the Virginia Republican newspaperman, lawyer, and federal judge
Robert William Hughes (1821–1901) with his bookplate. Hughes, who
had known Edgar Allan Poe in Richmond and was particularly close to
President Grant, also raised horses, including thoroughbreds registered
with the American Jockey Club.
Boyd/P. 61. OCLC 4390518.

42
 Alhazen’s optics: the exceedingly rare first edition of a milestone in Arabic science
74. I B N A L-H AY T H A M , Abu ‘Ali al-Hasan (Alhazen). [Kitab al-Manazir, latine]. Opticae thesaurus.
Alhazeni Arabis libri septem, nunc primum editi.
Basel, Eusebius Episcopius & heirs of Nicolaus Episcopius, (August) 1572. 2º (248 × 350 mm). 2 parts in 1 vol. With 2
different woodcut printer’s devices on t. p. and colophon, half-page woodcut on reverse of t. p. (repeated on half-title
of pt. 2), and numerous diagrams in the text. Near-contemporary full vellum binding with giltstamped red spine
label. All edges sprinkled in red. € 125 000

First edition of “the most important work of its kind in Arabic literature” (cf.
Poggendorf). Ibn al-Haytham (965–c. 1040), known as Alhazen in the Latin
tradition, has been hailed as “the greatest Muslim physicist and one of the
greatest students of optics of all times [...] The Latin translation [...] exerted a
great influence upon Western science. It showed a great progress in experimental
method. [Alhazen’s book contains] research in catoptrics, [a] study of atmos-
pheric refraction, [a] better description of the eye, and better understanding of
vision [as well as an] attempt to explain binocular vision [and the] earliest use
of the camera obscura” (Sarton). “This combined edition served as the standard
reference work on optics well into the 17th century, influencing scientists such as
Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Descartes” (Norman).
Variously browned due to paper, but altogether quite a crisp, wide-margined
copy, with an apparently contemporary handwritten ownership to the title page
(deleted some time in the 17th or 18th century), a very few inconspicuous repairs
to the edges, a faint waterstain to the lower margin and some slight worming
to the lower gutter. Binding tight and well-preserved, with 17th or early 18th
century library shelfmarks to front pastedown. An unusually fine specimen of a
principal work of Arabic science as received in the West.
VD 16, H 693 (H 692, V 1761). Adams A 745. BM-STC 383. Dibner 138. Norman 1027.
Honeyman I, 73. DSB VI, 205. GAL I, 470. Poggendorf I, 31. Duncan 113. Sarton I, 721. Carmody
p. 140. Thorndike/Kibre 803, 1208. Vagnetti D62. BNHCat A 241. IA 103.705. Brunet I, 180.
Arabick Roots Doha AR79.

Transcription and translation of a botanical text by Ibn al-Wardi

75. I B N A L-WA R DI and Carl AU R I V I L L I US . Ex opere
cosmographico Ibn Alvardi particulam, ...
Uppsala, Laur. Magnus Höjer, 1752. 4º. With some woodcut headpieces.
With a large part of the text in Arabic with parallel Latin, and some Hebrew
and Greek passages. Modern chemically marbled paper boards. € 3500

Rare first (and only?) edition of the thesis of the Swedish linguist, translator and
orientalist Carl Aurivillius (1717–1786). It contains a transcription of a chapter on
“plants and their fruits” from the Kharîdat al-’Ajâ’ ib wa farîdat al-gharâib (“The pearl
of wonders and the uniqueness of strange things”), the major work by the Islamic
historian and geographer Ibn al-Wardi (d. 1349). The present transcription was based
on a manuscript in the University Library of Uppsala. Aurivillius translated the text
into Latin (on the page facing the Arabic) and provided commentaries (printed in the
lower margins). The present work, however, “was seriously hampered by the lack of
Arabic typefaces” (Thomasson), and Aurivillius’s later works including Arabic type
were to be printed in Germany.
In 1754 Aurivillius became Professor of Poetry and in 1772 Professor of Oriental
languages at the University of Uppsala.
Slightly browned, occasional foxing and some minor restorations to the title-page,
otherwise in good condition.
F. Tomasson, The life of J. D. Åkerblad, pp. 20–21; WorldCat (6 copies).

43
 Important dissertation about Ibn Hawqal and the geography of Iraq
76. I B N H AWQA L , Petrus Johannes U Y L E N BROE K (resp.) and Hendrik Arent H A M A K E R (praes.).
Specimen geographico-historicum.
Leiden, S. & J. Luchtmans, 1822. Large 4º (221 × 266 mm). 3 parts in one vol. Contemporary full calf, covers ruled in
gilt, spine gilt with red label. All edges gilt. Red marbled endpapers. € 2800

First edition of this important dissertation about Ibn Hawqal and the geography of
Iraq, with an edition of the text. The study was re-issued under the title “Iracae persicae
descriptio” in the same year. Abu al-Qasim b. Ali Ibn Hawqal al-Nasibi is famous for his
mediaeval geography “Surat al-’Ard” (“The face of the Earth”). Clearly more than a mere
editor, Ibn Hawqal was a traveller who spent much of his time writing about the areas and
things he had seen. He spent the last thirty years of his life traveling to remote parts of
Asia and Africa. One of his journeys brought him 20 degrees south of the equator along
the East African coast, where he noticed that there were large numbers of people living in
areas which the Greeks had said to be uninhabitable. His accurate descriptions were very
helpful to travellers.
An excellent, appealingly bound copy.
Wilson 104. Brunet III, 27 & VI, 19600. OCLC 15239787. Cf. Macro 1251 (2nd ed.).

First edition of an abbreviation of Ibn Sina’s masterpiece

77. I B N S I N A ( AV IC E N N A ). Flores Avicenne.
(Colophon: Lyon, by Claude Davost for Barthélemy Trot, 1508). 8º. With
several botanical woodcut initials. Contemporary goatskin, blind-tooled in a
panel design. € 18 000

First edition of Michael de Capella’s abbreviation of the greatest work of the esteemed
Islamic physician Ibn Sina (ca. 980–1037), known in Europe as Avicenna, his Canon
medicinae (Canon of medicine, or in Arabic Kitab al-Qanun fi al-tibb), completed around
1024. It is a comprehensive medical encyclopaedia, mixing a thorough compilation of
Greek and Islamic medical knowledge (including the work of Aristotle, Hippocrates,
Galen and al-Majusi) with Avicenna’s own original contributions. It revolutionized
European medicine long before it first appeared in print in 1472. “The preface … refers to
the importance in medicine of aphoristic works that can readily be committed to memory
and to the example of Hippocratic writings. The task of abbreviation was undertaken with
such enthusiasm that Avicenna’s chapter on the elements was compressed from about 550
words in the full Gerard of Cremona version into 53 in the Flores” (Siraisi).
With the bookplate of Karl and Thilde Wagner. Binding somewhat worn, especially at
the spine. Some spots throughout, ink stains on title-page and a couple minor stains in
text; a good copy.
Adams A2319; Durling 411; USTC 143378; cf. N.G. Siraisi, Avicenna in Renaissance Italy (2014), p. 132.

10 Mediaeval works on health, medicine, food and wine in a rare early edition,
including notes by Ibn Sina
78. I B N S I N A ( AV IC E N N A ), Maynus de M AY N I S , Arnaldus de V I L L A NOVA , [Roger B AC ON ] et
al. Regimen sanitatis Magnini Mediolanensis ... Insuper opusculu[m] De flebothomia editum ... Reginaldo de Villa
Nova. Additur quoq[ue] Astronomia Hippocratis ... de variis egritudinibus et morbis. Item Secreta Hippogratis. Item
Averrois De venenis. Ite[m] Quid pro quo apothecariorum ... Nicolaum ... Cum no[n]nullis insuper Avicenne: ...
[Lyon, Barthélemy Trot] (colophon: Lyon, printed by Jacques Myt, 6 February 1517). Small 4º (19 × 14 cm). With
title-page in red and black with Trot’s woodcut publisher’s device, 12 decorated woodcut initials plus 3 repeats.
17th-century(?) calf, gold-tooled spine; rebacked with the original backstrip laid down. € 25 000

44
 Rare fourth(?) edition of a collection of ten Mediaeval works by seven authors concern-
ing medicine, health, food and wine, including notes taken from Ibn Sina (Avicenna).
They include Maynus de Maynis (ca. 1295?- 1368?), Regimen sanitatis, on health; a work
on phlebotomy attributed to Arnaldus de Villanova (ca. 1295?- 1368?); Astronomia, on
astrological influences on health, attributed to Hippocrates (460–377 BC); Johannes de
Zantvliete (active 1343–1350), De dieta, on food; Nicolaus Salernitanus (12th century),
Quid pro quo, a list of medicines for numerous ailments; Averroès (1126–1311) on
poisons and on theriac, a poisonous concoction used as an antidote to other poisons,
especially poisoned wounds; Secreta, a short piece attributed to Hippocrates; Villanova,
Tractatus de vinis, an extensive and important work on wine; and Roger Bacon (ca.
1220-ca. 1292), De regimine senum et seniorum, a treatise on geriatrics, here erroneously
attributed to Villanova.
With occasional underlining and marginal marks by an early hand. With leaves 4 and
5 mounted on stubs: otherwise in very good condition, with only very slight browning.
Rebacked as noted, and with the surface of the leather refurbished, but now structur-
ally sound. One of the rare earliest editions of several Mediaeval treatises on health,
medicine, food and wine.
Baudrier VIII, p. 431; Durling 3044; USTC 144805 (8 copies); Vicaire, cols. 549–550.

16th-century collection of nine alchemical tracts, including one by Ibn Sina

79. I B N S I N A ( AV IC E N N A ), Raymond LU L L
(LU L L I US) and A R I S T O T L E . De alchimia opuscula
complura veterum philosophorum, quorum catalogum sequens
pagella indicabit.
(Dedication: Frankfurt, Cyriacus Jacob, 1550). Part 1 (of 2). Small
4º (19.5 × 15 cm). With a large woodcut illustration on title-page,
hand coloured by an early hand, and Jacob’s woodcut printer’s
device on the last otherwise blank page. 17th-century(?) limp
sheepskin parchment. € 18 000

First edition of a collection of nine alchemical tracts, including De tinctura

metallorum by Ibn Sina, known in Europe as Avicenna. Ibn Sina was one of
the most significant thinkers and writers of the Islamic golden age and his
bibliography comprises nearly 270 titles. “Ibn Sina studied the philosophi-
cal and scientific foundations of this subject [alchemy] and even undertook
alchemical experiments. His conclusion regarding its validity, however, is
negative” (DSB). It also includes two works by Raymond Lull, one of the
most interesting scholars of the Middle Ages, one by Aristotle; and five
anonymous ones. A second part was published in the same year containing
only one work: the famous Rosarium philosophorum. It can be regarded as a
separate publication and is not included here.
With contemporary manuscript annotations in the margins, underscor-
ing throughout, an early owner’s inscription (struck through) and some
other notes on the title-page. The annotations slightly shaved, somewhat
browned throughout and waterstains in the first half of the book, but
otherwise in good condition. Binding very good.
Duveen, p. 11 (“excessively rare”); Ferguson, Bib. chem. I, p. 18; MacPhail I, 20; for Ibn Sina: DSB XV, pp. 494–500.

Avicenna on fevers
80. [I B N S I N A]. A RC OL A N I, Giovanni. De febribus [...] in Avicennae quarti canonis fen primam.
Venice, heirs of Lucantonio Giunta, 1560. 2º (227 × 317 mm). Printer’s device on title page and, in a different version,
on the last page. Contemporary vellum. Traces of ties. € 15 000

45
 First issue under this title, previously released as “Expositio in primam fen quarti
canonis Avenicennae” (1506). A commentary (with the text, in the version of Gerardus
Cremonensis) of book four, part (fen) one of Avicenna’s systematic “Canon of
Medicine”, written in Arabic but widely translated throughout the Middle Ages and
the basis of medical training in the West as late as the mid-17th century. It continues
in use to this day in parts of the Arab world. Through this encyclopedic work, the
author exerted “perhaps a wider influence in the eastern and western hemispheres
than any other Islamic thinker” (PMM). “The ‘Qanun’ [...] contains some of the most
illuminating thoughts pertaining to distinction of mediastinitis from pleurisy; conta-
gious nature of phthisis; distribution of diseases by water and soil; careful description
of skin troubles; of sexual diseases and perversions; of nervous ailments” (Sarton,
Introduction to the History of Science). The present part is dedicated to a discussion
of feverish illnesses.
17th century ownership “Bernardinus Statius Phys.” on flyleaf. Some brownstaining
throughout, as common; some worming to spine. Still a good copy.
Edit 16, CNCE 2345. Adams A 1541. Durling 245. Cf. Wellcome I, 387 (only the Venice reprint). PMM 11.

Beautifully decorated diplomatic letter in Arabic:

peace between Christian England and Islamic Morocco
81. I S M A I L I B N SH A R I F, Moulay, ruler of Morocco. [Diplomatic letter to the English emissary [Charles
Stewart] acknowledging the English desire for improved diplomatic relations, and offering a truce and a peace
treaty].
[Meknes (Morocco), 3 Safar 1133 AH (= 23 December 1720)]. Whole sheet (57 × 43 cm). An elaborately decorated letter
in ink on paper, with the stylized architectural and arabesque decorations (including Arabic inscriptions) drawn in
black outline, coloured and supplemented in green with some blue, and highlighted with gold, and the 8-line Arabic
text of the letter itself in brown. € 28 000

An important and beautifully decorated diplomatic letter in Arabic,

from Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif, ruler of Morocco, to the English
emissary Charles Stuart, who was in Morocco to negotiate improved
relations between the countries. While relations between Britain and
Morocco had long been tense, their mutual opposition to French
domination of Spain led to cooperation during the War of the Spanish
Succession (1702–1713/14) helping Britain gain control of Gibraltar in
1704. Its extremely important strategic position, guarding the mouth
of the Mediterranean, meant that Britain was determined to retain
control there, but that required cooperation with Morocco, especially
since Gibraltar depended on neighbouring lands for food and supplies.
The 22 July 1714 treaty of Tetuan settled matters temporarily, but
England was eager to establish longer-term security. King George I
therefore sent Commodore Charles Stewart (1681–1741) to Morocco
with a small squadron to negotiate with Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif
(1634?–1727). He set off on 24 September and arrived on 22 December.
Ismail was a fierce opponent whom many Europeans called “blood-
thirsty”. He had fought for and won Moroccan independence from the
Ottoman Empire. If reports of the year of his birth are correct he was
now past 85 but remained firmly in power. The present letter, written
the day after Stewart’s arrival, presents his guarded response, acknowl-
edging the English desire for an extended truce, close friendship and
good communications. Some groundwork had apparently been laid
before Stewart’s arrival, for the letter notes communications made
through the pasha Hamet ben Ali ben Abdallah and Ibn al Attar and indicates that they had already come to an agreement over the
content. Ismail expresses the hope that the ambassador will find the terms satisfactory. He had secured his country’s independence
from the Ottomans only 25 years before and perhaps for that reason takes pains to emphasize the continuity of its government, noting
that his relative Ahmad al Mansour (1549–1603) had had friendly relations with Queen Elizabeth (1533–1603): in fact he had a repre-
sentative at the English court in 1600, when Morocco and England were allied against the Spanish. Charles Stewart and Hamet ben

46
Ali ben Abdallah signed the peace treaty at Ceuta in January 1721 and Stewart then had an audience with Ismail ibn Shaif in Meknes
and was able to return home with nearly 300 British who had been enslaved in Morocco.
The sheet is folded in two above the text of the letter and was formerly folded further, probably for delivery. These folds show some
wear and minor tears, the edges are slightly tattered (occasionally affecting a small piece of the border) and the paper shows some
unobtrusive spotting. The whole remains in good condition and only slightly trimmed at the sides and head, the foot retaining its
deckle. A beautifully decorated diplomatic letter from the great Moroccan ruler Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif to the English emissary
Commodore Charles Stewart, leading to improved relations between Islamic Morocco and Christian Britain.
For background information: N. Matar, British captives from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 1563–1760 (2014); N. Matar, Europe through Arab eyes,
1578–1727 (2008).

A teenage sailor’s adventures in Arabia, Mumbai and elsewhere

82. J A M E S , Silas. A narrative of a voyage to Arabia, India; &c; ...; with remarks
on the genius and disposition of the natives of Arabia Felix; …
London, printed by William Glindon, sold by the author, [1797]. 8º. With a frontis-
piece portrait of the author engraved by William Newman. Modern dark brown calf,
gold-tooled spine. € 8500

First edition, second issue (with a cancel title-page and an added list of about 160 subscribers) of
a young man’s detailed account of his adventures as a teenage member of the crew of a British
transport ship in the years 1780 to 1784. He gives accounts of people, customs, food, animals and
events in the places he visits, first the Cape, then up the African coast to the Arabian peninsula
and on to Bombay (Mumbai) where he found his father, deserted his ship and lived royally for
more than a year before he was captured and returned to his ship. On the return voyage he gives
an account of Madagascar. He also gives a lively view of the rough and tumble day to day life on
board the ship and of the cruelties of some captains.
With an 1801 owner’s inscription on a flyleaf. A couple sheets were under-inked on one side, but
remain easily legible. With a small puncture hole through the first few leaves and occasional
minor browning or foxing, but still in very good condition and only slightly trimmed. A very
intimate view of a teenager’s life and adventures sailing to Arabia and India.
ESTC T139719 (8 copies); Mendelssohn I, 765; not in Blackmer; Gay, Bibl. de l’Afrique et l’Arabie.

The Mirror for Princes

83. K A I K A’ US I B N -I S K A N DA R and Heinrich Friedrich VON DI E Z (transl.). Buch des Kabus oder
Lehren des persischen Königs Kjekjawus für seinen Sohn Ghilan Schach.
Berlin, Nicolai, 1811. 8º. With a double leaf of genealogy. Modern marbled boards with printed spine label. Edges
sprinkled. Sold
First German edition. – This Mirror for Princes, composed in the late 11th century by Keikavus,
the ruler of the Iranian Ziyarid dynasty, is regarded as a major work of Persian literature . It
offers not only the author’s genealogy, but also describes the creation of the world and God’s
religious duties; duties towards one’s parents; the cultivation of the mind and the power of
speech; youth and old age; moderation in food; consumption of wine; chess and backgam-
mon; love; the pleasures of life; hot baths; sleep and rest; hunting; polo; war; accumulation of
wealth; trust in words; the purchase of slaves; the purchase of properties; the purchase of horses;
marriage; children’s education; the choice of friends; how to deal with enemies; forgiveness;
punishment and favors; studies and legal functions; commercial law; medicine; astrology and
mathematics; poetry; the art of minstrelsy; the service of kings; the qualities of a courtier, secre-
taries, viziers, generals and king; farming and agriculture; finally, generosity. A Turkish transla-
tion was commissioned in the mid-15th century by the Ottoman Sultan Murad II, and it is this
version that was in turn translated into German by Diez. Diez was in contact with Goethe, and
the present version was a source of inspiration for his “West-östlicher Diwan”.
Occasional insignificant brownstaining, but a good copy in modern marbled boards.
Ruppert 1772. Keudell 954. Goedeke VII, 806, 240, 3. Not in Wilson (later French translation only).

47
 Six Italian, French, and Arabic letters
to the Prelate in Austro-Hungary
84. K A R A M , Youssef Bey, (Joseph Bey Caram),
Maronite notable who fought for self-rule against the
Ottoman Empire in Mount Lebanon (1823–1889).
6 partly autograph letters signed.
Eden and Constantinople, 1850s/60s. (Large) 4º. 2 letters in
Arabic (one of which includes French transcription). € 12 500
Six Italian, French, and Arabic letters to the Prelate in Austro-
Hungary, Monseigneur Mislin (1807–78), signed in French or
Arabic. Apparently, the Prelate took a lively interest in the fate of the
Christians (Maronites). Karam gives regular accounts of the latest
events.

“A Gift for Sovereigns”, on the knowledge of the world and state philosophy
85. K A SH F I, Sayyid Ja’far ibn Ishaq. Tuhfat al-Muluk.
Iran, dated “1151” (i.e., 1251 AH = CE 1835/36). 4º (295 × 185
mm). Persian ms. on smoothed paper. 384 unnumbered
ff., 21 lines to a page. With decorative, richly coloured
‘unwan headpiece and 17 coloured miniatures, many
raised in gilt. Highlighted words written or overscored
in red. Contemporary half calf with coloured, lacquered
gouache paintings to covers; inside covers show finely
excuted floral designs on a red background. € 45 000

Lavishly illuminated manuscript on the knowledge of the world

and state philosophy, the title of which might be rendered as
“A Gift for Sovereigns”. This important treatise was composed
in 1817/18 on behalf of Prince Muhammad Taqi Mirza, son of
Fath Ali Shah, the second king of the Persian Qajar dynasty,
and is the major work by the Iranian philosopher Sayyid Ja’far
ibn Ishaq Kashfi (c. 1775–1850). Peculiarly, the manuscript is
written in Naskhi rather than in the usual Persian Nastaliq
script. While most Persian calligraphers could prepare their
work in Naskhi upon request, this may serve to indicate that the
manuscript is not a copy by a professional scribe, but rather the
manuscript of a scholar (possibly by Kashfi himself?).
The ms. is dated “1151” at the end of the text, which must mean
1251, i.e. 1835/36 C.E. Written on western laid paper with several
watermarks, including – in the first half – a prominent one with
an eagle above a circle. The typical Qajar enamel binding shows
charming cover illustrations of lavish flower bouquets with three
birds; the inside covers show more conventional, stylized floral
ornamentation. Several late 19th-century. ms. notes to reverse
of the first leaf. With occasional edge damage professionally
repaired or showing repairs by a contemporary owner (including
final leaf: insignificant loss to text); colours show some bleeding
to reverse. Some rubbing throughout, with the occasional stain.

48
 Very rare Dutch picaresque novel, with the female protagonist getting caught by pirates
and ending up in the household of an Arab slave trader
86. [K E R S T E M A N, Petrus Lievens]. De vermakelyke avanturesse, of de dienstmaagd van fortuin. Vervattende
hare zonderlinge levensgevallen, ontelbare wederwaardigheden en rampen; zeltzame ontmoetingen, en koddige
vryagien; deszelfs driejarige dienst als lakye, gevangenneming op de Moorsche kusten, en hare slavernye in Asia by
de Arabieren.
Amsterdam, Steven van Esveldt, 1754. 8º. With engraved frontispiece. Contemporary mottled half calf, gold-tooled
spine, later endpapers. € 3500

Very rare first edition of a Dutch picaresque novel telling the story of the girl Janneton, who was
born in Brussels and moved with her parents to Amsterdam when she was 9. When she was around
16 she makes plans to leave town with her lover, Charles, after continuously being beaten by her
father. Unsurprisingly her father doesn’t agree and puts her away in a monastery. After several months
she flees the monastery with her lover only to be raided by bandits, during which Charles is killed.
Janneton ends up on her own, travels through Europe and eventually makes it to in Cartagena, Spain,
where she takes a ship back to the Netherlands. During her voyage the ship gets caught in a storm end
they end up in front of the north African coast where they are picked up by African pirates. Janneton
soon gets sold to an Arab slave trader, with whom she gets along very well. They travel together
through Africa and Asia, before ending up on his estate in Arabia. Eventually she managed to get
back her freedom and travels back to the Netherlands, where finds out that Charles is still alive.
With the bookplate of the Flemish poet Victor Alexis dela Montagne (1854–1915). Lacking the publish-
er’s advertisement, but otherwise complete and in good condition, with only some minor dampstains
to the first few leaves and some marginal defects. Binding slightly rubbed along the extremities, but
otherwise in very good condition.
Buisman 1042; Horst, “De letterkundige werkzaamheid van Petrus Lievens Kersteman” in: Het boek XXVIII, pp. 81–88, no. II; STCN (3 copies); Waller 924.

Lively watercolour view of Tophane Quay in Istanbul with the Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque
87. [K I NG , Helena Caroline or Adelaide Charlotte]. [Prominent Ottoman and entourage boarding boats before
the Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque].
[Istanbul?, ca. 1830/50?]. Watercolour drawing on wove paper (29.5 × 45 cm) with highlights in shellac and a thin
black border. Mounted on a larger sheet of paper in a passe-partout. € 8500

A lively scene on the Tophane Quay in Istanbul, with the background dominated by the dome and minaret of the 1580 Kilic Ali Pasha
Mosque. The tip of a second minaret, perhaps from a different mosque, is visible in the distance. On the quay, an opulently dressed black-
bearded Ottoman (a high official in the Emperor’s court or a wealthy merchant?) stands in the centre of the scene with his entourage.
He wears red robes trimmed with gold and with black decorations, a white turban around a red fez, and a gold waistband with the hilts
of two guns sticking out, and carries a walking stick in his left hand. His entourage includes a white-bearded Islamic holy man(?) with
a green turban around a red fez, a Greek or Armenian man in a black hat, a dark-skinned woman in green robes, holding a bundle, and
several other men, women and children. They appear to be preparing to depart in the boats that stand ready. Two more dark-skinned
women, in white robes with red and blue stripes, follow
the party deferentially. Several people appear in the boats
in addition to their crews. Four more white-bearded
Islamic holy men (each again with a green turban around
red fez) sit in one with some women, while two Ottoman
infantrymen with bayonets stand in another, one just
stepping out. Other parts of the quay show various men
busy with their trades or smoking long pipes.
From the collection of Hooton Pagnell Hall in
Yorkshire, England. With a 1.5 cm tear in the water at
the foot of the scene, not approaching the boats, and
otherwise in very good condition. A lively and fasci-
nating scene on a quay in Istanbul, with the dome and
minaret of Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque prominently shown.
For the King family: Debrett’s Peerage 1840, p. 423 & 1861, p.
338; (Debrett’s) Baronetage LXXV (1893), p. 127.

49
 A love story from the Arabian Nights in Portuguese, extremely rare second edition
88. [K I TA B A L F L AY L A WA-L AY L A]. Historia de Ganem, filho
de Abou Aibou, denominado o escravo de amor. Traduzida do Arabio em
Francez, e ultimamente no idioma Portuguez, por B.A.E.
(Colophon: Lisbon, Francisco Borges de Sousa, 1792). Small 4º (21 × 15 cm).
Disbound, spine lined with a strip of black paper. € 4950

Extremely rare second edition of a rare Portuguese translation of the History of Ganem,
the slave of love, a story from the Arabian Nights. The story tells of Ganem, a son of
a merchant from Damascus, who upon his father’s death travels to Baghdad to sell
his father’s leftover stock. Once in Baghdad the young Ganem falls in love with the
favourite concubine of the caliph. The story is translated into Portuguese from the
French translation of Jean Antoine Galland from the beginning of the 18th-century.
With spots on the first and last leaves, a stain on leaf B1 and a couple tiny holes in the
outer margin of the last leaf. In good condition.
Porbase (1 copy); WorldCat (1 copy); cf. Rodrigues, Novelística estrangeira 268.

First printing of a German edition, based on a complete translation prepared by Galland

89. [K I TA B A L F L AY L A WA-L AY L A— G E R M A N]. Tausend und Eine Nacht.
Breslau, Josef Max, 1825. Small 8º. 15 vols., uniformly bound in near-contemporary half calf with gilt spine and red
spine labels. € 2800

First printing of this German edition, based on a complete translation

prepared by Antoine Galland (1646–1715). The so-called “Galland ms.”
which he had bought in 1701 is the oldest Arabic text extant (dating from
1450 or later). The translator Maximilian Habicht (1775–1839) lived in Paris
for a decade as a member of the Prussian delegation. He knew vernacular
Arabic well and separately published an edition of the Arabic text of the
“Nights” (cf. Fück).
Slightly browned; bookplates of the Viennese collector Rudolf Jelinek on
pastedowns; collector’s stamps to titles.
Chauvin IV, 248. Hayn/Gotendorf V, 276. Cf. Fück 157.

Arabian nights in Dutch translation

90. [K I TA B A L F L AY L A WA-L AY L A— DU TC H]. Duizend en één
nacht. Arabische vertellingen.
Amsterdam, Hendrik Frijlink, 1829–1831. 9 volumes. 8º. With an engraved fron-
tispiece and engraved title-page to each volume. Contemporary half calf, gold-
tooled spine. € 2500

Attractive Dutch edition of the Alf laylah wa laylah, commonly known as the Arabian
nights, cherished in Europe since the early 18th century.
With bookplate. Slightly browned with some occasional minor foxing. Bindings slightly
rubbed along the extremities. Overall in good condition.
NCC (4 copies); Saalmink, p. 539; De Vries, Pop. proza 200.

50
 Arabian Nights – the first complete edition in Urdu
91. [K I TA B A L F L AY L A WA-L AY L A— H I N DUS TA N I].
Kanpur (Cawnpore), Mustafai Press, 1263 AH [1847 AD]. Large 4º (180 × 274
mm). 4 volumes bound as two. Lithographed throughout, with decorated
title pages and a full-page floral illustration to the final page. Contemporary
full red calf with flat spines, painted entirely with floral oriental designs;
both covers with inlaid gilt floral stamps. € 35 000

Very early and rare Hindustani (Urdu) version of the “Thousand and One Nights”,
translated by Munshi Adb al-Karîm. This was considered by J. F. Blumhardt, the
cataloguer of the Hindustani books in the British Library and consultant to Richard
Burton, the first complete version in Urdu, as a previous one, lithographed at Madras in
1836, comprised merely the first 200 “Nights” (Chauvin, however, cites an edition issued
in Lucknow in 1828 as the first). Al-Karim’s translation was based on Edward Forster’s
1802 English version.
Volumes 1 and 4 are dated in Arabic (and vol. 1 also in Latin). A few reinforcements.
Some loosening of the sewing in book 2. Some worming, more pronounced in the 2nd
volume, but mainly confined to margins. Several pencil annotations by an early 20th
century scholar’s hand in book 3. An appealingly bound copy.
Chauvin IV, 20Y. Burton XIII, p. xi. Cf. Blumhardt, BM Cat., col. 36 (this edition not in the British
Library).

Including a manuscript leaf by Burton

92. [K I TA B A L F L AY L A WA-L AY L A]. BU RT ON, Richard F. The book of the thousand nights and a
night[:] a plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments.
With:
(2) BU RT ON, Richard F. Supplemental nights.
(3) BU RT ON, Richard F. [Manuscript proof document].
(Colophons: U.S.A.), The Burton club, [ca. 1940]. 16 volumes (incl. 6 supplements). 8º. With an original manuscript
leaf written by Burton (with the manuscript header: “Long Primer Pressig. Proof to Sir R.F.B. Hotel des Bains,
Canton Vaud, Switzerland”) and each volume with a different frontispiece in two states (coloured and uncoloured).
Contemporary richly gold-blocked green morocco, boards with gilt Arabic script, gold-tooled turn-ins. € 25 000

The so-called “manuscript edition” of Richard Burton’s celebrated translation of Alf Laylah Wa Laylah, commonly known in English
as the Arabian nights. These Arabic tales, cherished in Europe since the early 18th century, are often erotic in content, and in Burton’s
unexpurgated translation they outraged Victorian England. Burton included numerous footnotes and a scholarly apparatus, offering
a vivid picture of Arabian life, which set his translation apart from earlier English renderings.
The present edition (limited to 99 sets, the present being copy no. 49) includes a manuscript leaf from a text by Burton. In the present
copy this is a book review by Burton, of a French translation of Johannis de Capua’s Latin translation of a Hebrew translation of the
Panchatantra.
The title-page of the first volume, confusingly uses the correct
main title: “The book of the thousand nights and a night”, but
mixes it with part of the subtitle of the Supplemental nights: “to
the book of the thousand one nights with notes anthropolog-
ical and explanatory” and to add to further confusion states
it is “volume three”. The content, however, is that of the first
volume, and it seems to be a printer’s mistake limited to an
early run of the press.
Some minor browning to the endpapers, and the endpaper of
the first volume partly detached and with a small pieces torn
off, the binding has some very minor wear to the hinges and a
few headbands are carefully repaired. A fine set.
J.Ross, “bibliography” on: Scheherazade’s web: the 1001 nights &
comparative literature; cf. Penzer, pp. 126–132 (other Burton club editions).

51
 Including Trew’s magnificent white falcon
93. K NOR R , Georg Wolfgang. Deliciae naturae selectae.
Nuremberg, (1754–)1766/67. Large 2º. 2 vols. in one. With
coloured engr. title page (dated 1754), large engraved vignette
by Andreas Hoffer after Gottfried Eichler, and 91 (1 folding)
coloured or colour-printed engravings by Knorr, J. A.
Eisenmann, A. Hoffer and others. Contemp. calfskin binding
gilt. € 45 000

First edition of this monumental work of natural history, one of the most
splendid zoological works ever produced in Nuremberg. Begun by Knorr
as early as 1751, it was continued by his heirs after his death in 1761. The
book describes items from the great contemporary natural history collec-
tions, including the magnificent white falcon (with hood) from the col-
lection of the famous physician and botanist Christoph Jakob Trew. The
illustrations, occasionally printed in colours but mostly hand-coloured in
radiant hues, depict birds, exotic mammals, fishes, corals, butterflies and
other insects.
Occasional insignificant waterstaining to the wide blank margins of
the text; a few plates show unobtrusive fingerstaining. A beautiful, very
wide-margined copy in excellent state of preservation, printed on good,
strong paper. Plates show clean, distinct colours and superior contrast.
Nissen, ZBI 2227. Horn/Schenkling 12038. Hagen I, 426. Dean I, 696. Graesse IV, 35.

The Royal Württemberg stud, the first Arabian stud in Europe

94. K U N T Z , Rudolf. Abbildungen Königlich Württembergischer Gestütts Pferde von orientalischen Racen.
Stuttgart, [Ebner] , 1823–1824. Oblong 2º (550 × 635 mm). Issues I and II (of 3). With 12 (out of 18) tinted chalk litho-
graphs by L. Ekeman-Allesson after R. Kuntz. Wants text and table of subscribers. Stored loosely in 2 original wrappers
with title label and green original half calf portfolio with gilt-lettered title and borders. Traces of ties. € 48 000

First and only edition. Commissioned

by the Board of the Württemberg
Stud, the first Arabian stud in
Europe, this almost unobtainable
series of large format plates shows the
Stud’s full-blooded Arabian horses
with decorative oriental backgrounds.
The plates constitute extremely early
examples of chalk lithographs (listed
individually by Winkler, Frühzeit der
dt. Lithographie, 180, 57). Kuntz was
known for his “excellent depictions of
horses” (cf. Thieme/B.); throughout
his brief career he studied thorough-
breds in England, Hungary, and Paris
as well as in Germany.
Very slightly stained in places, three
plates slightly browned. Of the
utmost rarity. This copy removed
from the collection of the House
of Hanover, dispersed from 2005
(largely through Sotheby’s).
Nissen 2327. Thieme/B. X, 444 & XXII, 116.
Winkler, Die Frühzeit der dt. Lithographie
180.57.

52
 First edition, perfectly preserved
95. L A B OR DE , Léon [Emmanuel Simon Joseph] de.
Voyage de l’Arabie Pétrée.
Paris, Giard, 1830. Imperial 2º (420 × 596 mm). With large
lithographed title vignette and coat of arms of Wilhelm II on
dedication leaf. 69 lithographed plates, maps and plans after
Laborde and Linant de Bellefonds, mostly mounted on India
paper (3 of which folding or double-page and 1 coloured).
Unbound. € 45 000

First edition of “an important work” (Blackmer), complete with all

the magnificent views in large folio format. All subsequent editions,
including the English one, were published in octavo and retained
only a few plates of the original edition, all in considerably reduced
format. Laborde made the journey to Petra with the engineer Linant de
Bellefonds in 1828, travelling from Suez via St. Catherine’s and through
Wadi al-Araba to Akabah. Although Burckhardt, Irby and Mangles
had explored Petra before Laborde, he was the first to make detailed
drawings of the area. Dedicated to the Elector Wilhelm II of Hesse
(1777–1847).
Slight browning and foxing, occasional waterstaining and tears to
folds; a small tear in the map repaired, but in all a good, wide-mar-
gined copy in loose sheets, apparently never bound. Rare: the last
complete copy came up for auction in 2009 (Christie’s, 3 June, lot 120:
£23 750).
Blackmer 929. Gay 929. Henze III, 101. Brunet III, 714. Vicaire IV, 758f. Nissen ZBI, 2335. Not in Atabey. Cf. Macro, Bibliography of the
Arabian Peninsula, 1386 (2nd ed. only). Howgego 335, L2 (1830–33 ed.).

Horse anatomy in contemporary colour

96. L A F O S S E , Etienne Guillaume. Cours
d’hippiatrique.
Paris, (Seneuze for) Edme and the author, 1772. 2º
(350 × 500 mm). With 2 engr. frontispieces and 56 engr.
plates, many folding, each in 2 states (thus, a total of 112
plates): black and white & hand-coloured (counted as 65
engravings, including frontispieces and 7 text vignettes).
Contemp. brown calf with gilt spine label. Marbled
endpapers. All edges red. € 25 000

First edition of this remarkable book on horse anatomy: the

famous “Veterinary Course, or Complete Treatise on Equine
Medicine”, the principal work of the French veterinarian P. E.
Lafosse (1738–1820). Lafosse had considerable anatomical skill,
coupled with a profound knowledge of horses and equitation, and
his work ranks with Stubbs in the artistic realization of equine
anatomy. The plates, rendered with great skill by B. Michel
Adam, F. A. Aveline, C. Baquoy, Benard, Ch. Beulier, L. Bosse,
Prevost and others after Harguinier, Lafosse and Saullier, earned
the production a long-standing reputation as the finest book in
this branch of science (cf. Brunet).
Some plates repaired in places; binding professionally restored. A
fine, wide-margined copy of this magnificent work.
Brunet III, 765. Cohen/R. 587. Huth 46. Mellon 61. Mennessier de la Lance II,
20f. Nissen 2360. Brunet VI, 7727.

53
 Highly important author’s manuscript by “the Father of the Arabian horse in Spain”
97. L A IG L E S I A Y DA R R AC , Francisco. Memoria sobre la cría caballar de España.
Madrid, 24 May 1830. 2º (30 cm). Double-page ink wash drawing of the idealized (Arabian-bred) Spanish horse.
Bound in contemporary half black calf over marbled boards, gilt titles and ornaments on spine. Binding a little
rubbed, contents very good. Manuscript on paper, written in neat cursive throughout with occasional flourishes.
Signed twice by the author. Bookplate on pastedown of the noted Spanish collector José Gallart Folch. € 35 000

Highly important manuscript, being the

author’s autograph copy – possibly for
presentation to the dedicatee (the King of
Spain). Darrac’s groundbreaking treatise
on the admixture of Arabian bloodlines
to the Spanish horse was subsequently
accepted by the King and printed ‘by
Royal decree’ in the following year, 1831.
A horse expert with the Royal Army,
Laiglesia’s treatise is wonderfully detailed
and shows a thorough knowledge of
Arabians and their bloodlines. His main
thesis argues that with the introduction
of as few as 20 of the best pure-bred
Arabians, the entire country’s stock of
horses can be ‘regenerated’ in a few gen-
erations. To this end he launches into
an in-depth discussion of the logistics
of this plan, ranging from discussions of
the desert Bedouin origin of the purest
Arabians, from the regions surrounding
Sanaa and Nedjed-el-Areb in the Arabian
Gulf (Section 65) to an intimate familiarity with the different classes of Arabians from these bloodlines (Hatiks or Kadischi &
Kochlani). Laiglesia notes with admiration that the practice of recording the bloodlines of these Arabians is extremely meticulous at
the court of the Emir.
The present author’s manuscript and its illustration in fact show significant differences compared to the printed book, which is itself
extremely rare (just 3 copies worldwide, according to OCLC).
For the printed book, cf OCLC 63603570 (U Barcelona, British Library, U Penn); Palau 130186; Fairman Rogers Collection on the Horse, 453. Cf also Andrew K.
Steen, El Caballo Arabe en España, 1831 a 1934 (2007).

Algeria and its notorious pirates

98. L AUG I E R DE TA S S Y, Jacques Philippe.
Beschryving van het koningryk en de stadt Algiers,
met den tegenwoordigen staat dier regeeringe,
landt- en zeemagt, inkomsten, staatswetten,
werreltlyk recht en koophandel.
Including: Lyst der schepen, welke sedert den 24
december 1715, tot het einde des jaars 1724 door de
Algiersche roovers van den staat der Vereenigde
Nederlanden genomen zyn.
Amsterdam, Marten Schagen, 1725. 3 parts in
1 volume. 4º. With engraved title-page, folding
engraved map of Algeria, folding engraved view
and a folding engraved bird’s eye view of Algiers.
Contemporary calf, richly gold-tooled spine, gold-
tooled boards, gold-tooled binding edges. € 3750

54
Rare first and only edition of the Dutch translation of an influential description Algeria, published in the same year as the original
French, and expanded here with a detailed list of 73 Dutch ships captured by Algerian pirates. Algeria is a sovereign state in North
Africa on the Mediterranean coast and a member of the Arab League, the United Nations and a the founding member of the Maghreb
Union. The work begins with a description of the various in habitants, including separate chapters on the Arabs and Turkish people,
followed by chapters on its architecture, military, navy, politics, slavery, trade etc.
It was written by the Jacques Philippe Laugier de Tassy, previous diplomat in Algeria and during publishing, commissioner of the
French navy and consul in the Netherlands. It was translated into English as A complete history of the piratical states of Barabry, its title
emphasizing the notorious Algerian pirates.
With owner’s inscription. A good copy; some minor thumbing, a couple smudges and the bird’s eye view has some restorations.
Binding slightly rubbed along the extremities and some restorations to the spine, but is otherwise good.
Cat. NHSM, p. 201; STCN (8 copies); Tiele, Bibl. 644; WorldCat (10 copies, incl. 6 the same); cf. Playfair 220; not in Blackmer.

Lawrence of Arabia
in search of a cheap Revolt in the Desert
99. L AW R E NC E , T[homas] E[dward], British explorer,
intelligence officer, and writer (1888–1935). Autograph letter signed
(“TE Shaw”).
Plymouth, 10. VI. 1931. 4º. 1 p. € 12 500

To a Mr. Bain, apparently a bookseller: “I am unfortunate: I need one of my own

rotten books – a Revolt in the Desert, any late edition. Can you find one cheap?
Send me those Irish Memories, too, about which you sent me a chit ... and are
there any of S. Sassoon’s skits on Wolfe (Pinchbeck Lyre’s) to be got? Any edition.
I wanted two. There is also a book called ‘Juan in America’ which I must read.
Nothing else, I hope [...]”.
Traces of folds.

First German large folio edition of the famous historical atlas

100. L E S AG E , A. (Emmanuel de Las Cases). Historisch-Genealogisch-Geographischer Atlas.
Karlsruhe, Johann Velten, (1825–1838). Large 2º (400 × 570 mm). Double-page-sized lithogr. title page, double-page-
sized lithogr. dedication the Grand Duke of Baden, 44 double-page-sized letterpress tables with a total of 26 lithogr.
maps, all in contemporary hand colour (1 plate with an appendix in oblong 8º). Contemp. half cloth with original
printed wrappers over boards and green cloth spine. € 8500

First German large folio edition of the historical atlas that became
famous under the author’s pseudonym “Le Sage” (first published
in London in 1801). Count de Las Cases accompanied Napoleon
to Saint Helena as his inofficial secretary. Among the maps are a
map of the world in two hemispheres, Europe, America, Africa,
Asia with Arabia (“excellent horses, home of the camel, of coffee
and aloe”; “Mekka – birthplace of Muhammad; site of the famous
Kaaba”; “Nejd – large, fertile, populous province”; in the south:
“boundless sand desert with occasional oases; Niebuhr is the geog-
rapher of this country which Strabo, Ptolemy and – in the Middle
Ages – Abulfeda have described”), as well as of the Ottoman
Empire and Greece with the European portion of Turkey. The
preface is dated May 1829, the plates are mostly dated between 1825
and 1831, with two new maps of Switzerland, dated 1831, at the end.
Extremities of binding rubbed and bumped, interior shows some
occasional brownstaining, mainly confined to margins, otherwise
a very clean, well-preserved copy.
Phillips 3550 (1831 ed. with only 24 maps).

55
 Extremely detailed documentation of the earliest preparations to build the Suez Canal
101. L E S SE P S , Ferdinand de. The Isthmus of Suez question.
London, Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans; Paris, Galignari & Co. (colophon: printed by the Chiswick Press,
Charles Whittingham), 1855. With a folding chromolithographed bird’s-eye view of the proposed canal and 2 folding
lithographed maps.
With:
(2) L E S SE P S , Ferdinand de. New facts and figures relative to
the Isthmus of Suez canal.
London, Effingham Wilson; Paris, Galignani & Co. (colophon:
printed by the Chiswick Press, Charles Whittingham), 1856.
(3) L E S SE P S , Ferdinand de. Percement de L’Isthme de Suez,
exposé et documents officiels.
Paris, Henri Plon (colophon: printed by Henri Plon), 1855. With 2
folding lithographed maps.
(4) L E S SE P S , Ferdinand de. Percement de L’Isthme de Suez,
exposé et documents. ... Deuxième série.
Paris, Henri Plon, office of the journal L’Isthme de Suez (colophon:
printed by Henri Plon), 1856.
(5) L E S SE P S , Ferdinand de. Percement de L’Isthme de Suez,
rapport et project de la commission internationale. ... Troisième série.
Paris, Henri Plon, office of the journal L’Isthme de Suez (colophon: printed by Henri Plon), 1856.
(6) L E S SE P S , Ferdinand de. Question du Canal de Suez.
Paris, Henri Plon, Librairie Nouvelle (colophon: printed by Henri Plon), 1860. 6 works in 6 volumes. 8º.
Contemporary red half sheepskin (ads 1–5 uniform ca. 1856, ad 6 added in matching style ca. 1860), gold- and blind-
tooled spines. Sold
A remarkable collection of contemporary publications about the early efforts
to build the Suez canal, written and compiled by Ferdinand de Lesseps
(1805–1894), a retired French diplomat whom Muhammad Sa’id Pasha
(1822–1863) invited to build the Suez Canal on his accession to the positions
of Wali (governor) and Khedive (viceroy) of Egypt and Sudan in 1854, titles
he retained to his death in 1863. Though nominally reigning under the
Ottoman Emperor, Sa’id operated largely independently. While De Lesseps
found much support and capital investors in France, the British were not
eager to see a canal in French hands. The difficulty of raising capital outside
of France, combined with diplomatic efforts to turn the Ottoman Emperor
against the project, hindered progress, but with great determination and
additional capital provided by Sa’id’s Egyptian government De Lesseps
established the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez in 1858
and broke ground in 1859, though continuing political and technical diffi-
culties delayed the completion until 1869, six years after Sa’id’s death. The
present collection of De Lesseps’s publications paint an extremely detailed
picture of the project’s first two years. Ad 1 (1855) is the first edition, published in English for an international audience, of De Lesseps’s
own account of how the project came into existence, with nearly 100 pages of appendices containing English versions of many original
documents, including his initial 1854 report to Sa’id, the contract for the concession, and responses by Sa’id and others. This also served
as a sort of prospectus in the campaign to raise capital. Ad 6 (1860) is a French edition of Ad 1, especially important because many of
the documents were originally written in French, though first published in English. Ad 2 (1856) contains De Lesseps’s replies to various
responses to Ad 1, also updating ad 1 by providing the texts of many new documents. Among other things they offer his defence of his
proposals, which had been criticised from several quarters. Finally ads 3–5 (1855–1856, explicitly presented as three series) provide the
French texts of even more documents, well over a thousand pages (Lesseps was to add series 4 to 6 in 1857, 1860 and 1866). Together the
present six publications form a treasure of primary source material on the origins of the Suez Canal.
With occasional minor foxing, mostly affecting the first few and last few leaves of some volumes, but otherwise in very good
condition, most leaves fine. The bindings show an occasional bumped corner and minor wear around the extremities, but are still
very good. An essential collection of primary documentation of the prehistory of the Suez Canal.
Atabey 711 note (ad 6 only); Gay 2455 (ads 3–5 only); PMM (ad 3 only); not in Blackmer; Ibrahim-Hilmy.

56
 First Arabic edition of a classic ascetical work
102. L IGUOR I, Alfonso Maria de’ (li-Alfunsiyus
Likuri). [Kitab al-Isti’dad lil-mawt.]
Rome, Francesco Bourliè, 1829. Large 8º. With an engr. fron-
tispiece captioned in Arabic. Contemp. calf with giltstamped
spine. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. € 2800

First Arabic edition of this classic ascetical work by Saint Alphonse

de Liguori (1696–1787), first published in Italian in 1758 and trans-
lated by Maksimus ibn Jurjis Mazlum, archbishop of the Melkite
Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Aleppo. Printed in Arabic through-
out save for the preliminary matter. A second Arabic edition was
prepared in 1851 by the Franciscans of Jerusalem.
Old red library stamp of the Roman Jesuit College on the title page;
handwritten ownership on flyleaf opposite. Some occasional brown-
staining and loosening of quires, still a very good copy. Only three
copies known in libraries internationally (Yale; BSB Munich; Naples).
OCLC 702211341. ICCU NAPE\032122.

Famous work on the Middle East, illustrated with early photographs of the Holy Land
103. LU Y N E S , Honoré d’Albert de. Voyage d’exploration à la mer Morte, à Petra et sur la rive gauche du
Jourdain. ... Oeuvre posthume publiée par ses petit-fils sous la direction de M. le Comte de Vogüé.
Paris, Arthus Bertrand (on back of half-title: printed by E. Martinet (vols. 1–2) and Arnous de Rivière (vol. 3)),
[1874]. 3 volumes of text and 1 atlas of plates. Imperial 4º (35.2 × 26.5 cm). With 14 numbered lithographed plates in
volume 3 (4 double-page chromolithographed maps, views and geological sections; 2 further geological plates and 8
plates showing archaeological specimens), 85 plates in the atlas volume (including 65 photogravures and double-page
chromolithographed maps) and numerous wood-engravings in the text. Set in roman and italic types with occa-
sional passages in Greek and especially Arabic. Text volumes in original publisher’s letterpress-printed light blue
wrappers, atlas in half cloth portfolio with the original publisher’s letterpress-printed paper sides, matching the text
volumes; the 4 volumes preserved in 2 modern black half calf clamshell boxes. € 38 000

First and only edition of a monumental, influential and luxuoriously illustrated account of an archaeological expedition in the
Middle East by Honoré Théodore Paul Joseph d’Albert, Duc de Luynes (1802–1867), famous numismatist who inherited several
French titles and an immense fortune. It is especially rich in accounts and illustration (including some of the earliest photographs) of
the Dead Sea, Petra (with its extraordinary buildings carved out of the rock cliffs), the east bank of the Jordan, including al-Karak
castle. Luynes is remembered most for
the collection he gave to the Cabinet des
Médailles in 1862.
The work is very rarely found complete: only
2 copies sold at international auctions of the
past decades (both incomplete). It is a rare
expedition report describing the scientific
expedition to Palestine undertaken by the
French archaeologist de Luynes in 1864.
Some foxing, mainly in the front wrapper
and first leaves of vol. 1, but generally in
fine condition and with the text volumes
untrimmed and the bolts unopened,
giving wide margins. Even the spines of
the wrappers show only minor wear and
tears. Stunning complete set in the original
printed wrappers.
Henze III, p. 312; A. Pariot et al., Le voyage du Duc
de Luynes (1980); Parr & Badger, The photobook I, 33;
Tobler, p. 203.

57
 Italian friar captured by Ottoman pirates
104. M AG G IO, Francesco Maria. Vita, e morte del venerabil P. F.
Alipio di S. Giuseppe Scalzo di S. Agostino Palermitano della congregazione
d’Italia, in odio della confessione della S. Fede di Giesù Cristo,
crudelissimamente ucciso da’ Turchi di Barberia, nella città di Tripoli, a 17 di
febbraio l’anno 1645 ...
Rome, Ignatio de’ Lazzari, 1657. 4º. With 3 engraved plates. Contemporary
limp sheepskin parchment. € 3500

Rare first and only edition of the biography of the Augustinian friar Alipio de Luca di
San Giuseppe (1617–1645) from Palermo by Francesco Maria Maggio (1612–1686), an
Italian missionary in the Middle East.
Alipio’s ship was captured by Ottoman pirates on 1 July 1643 and he was brought to
Tripoli. He converted to Islam, but repented and was martyred on 17 February 1645
when he told the Pasha that he wished to return to his Christian faith. The biography
continues after his death, telling about his beatification and canonization. The plates
show the martyrdom and the holy relics of the Saint.
With ownership inscription. One of the three plates slightly larger than the bookblock
and folded at the bottom, otherwise in very good condition. Spine damaged.
ICCU UM1E\007052 (9 copies); Streit XVI, p. 525, no. 4001; WorldCat (6 copies); not in Atabey; Chahine.

The earliest mention of Al Bidda on a globe,

manufactured in the very year the Al Thani family moved to Doha
105. M A L B Y & C O. Malby’s terrestrial globe.
[London], Malby & Co. (engraved by Chas. Malby), 1 January 1848. Diameter: 45.5 cm (18 inch), height in stand:
64.5 cm. An engraved terrestrial globe with 12 gores and 2 polar caps over a plaster-covered core, and the engraved
horizon ring on the wooden stand, all coloured by a contemporary hand. In a contemporary wooden stand with 3
turned legs supporting the horizon ring, and 3 turned stretchers with a cylindrical centrepiece with a knob on the
underside. Further with a contemporary brass hour circle and a slightly later iron meridian ring (and probably the
axis pivots). € 75 000

Only recorded copy of the 1848 edition (preceded only by one recorded copy of 1846 edition) of Malby’s
18 inch (45.5 cm) terrestrial globe, the largest he engraved and much rarer than his 12 inch globe. The
Al Thani family, who originally lived in the Jabrin oasis in southern Nejd, moved to the south
of Qatar in the 18th century, subsequently to Zubarah, and then, in the early 19th century, to
Fuwairit. After the defeat of Bin Tarif they took advantage of the power vacuum left by his
death, and under the leadership of Sheikh Mohammad bin Thani they moved from Fuwairit
to the Doha area in 1848. Al Bidda became the most important town in the country
after the decline of Zubarah in the early 19th century. Doha, the present-day capital,
developed from Al Bidda.
The globe also shows small pieces of the Antarctic coast, noting sightings and explo-
rations from 1831 to 1841. In Africa it shows Lake “Nyassi”, discovered by Candido
José da Costa Cardoso in 1846, but most of equatorial Africa and the Congo remain
uncharted territory. “Oregon”, officially made a United States territory in 1848, shows
the boundary with “British America” agreed at the 1846 Oregon treaty. Alaska is still
“Russian America. Texas is part of the United States, as are California and most of
Arizona. The Revolution of 1848 has not yet affected the boundaries of the Austrian
Empire. “Debai” (Dubai) is shown on the Gulf coast, only 15 years after the al-Mak-
toum dynasty took charge of it in 1833. The globe seems to be intended especially for
navigational use, with not only a grid of parallels and meridians, but also the irregular
curved lines indicating the variation of magnetic from geographic north (“isogones”).
Malby seems to be the first and almost the only globe maker to show them.
The horizon ring and globe have a dozen small cracks repaired and a few small gaps in the surface image, some repaired, but
are otherwise in good condition. Extremely rare and lovely large globe.
Cf. British Library on-line cat. BLL01013005847; Dekker, GLB0081; Dunn & Wallis, British globes up to 1850 (1999) 209 & 443; World in your hands (Rudolph
Schmidt coll.) 7.12 & 7.13; Yonge, Early globes (1968), p. 46.

58
59
 14th-century tales of travels in Turkey, the Middle East, Near East,
India and the East Indies, illustrated with about 60 woodblocks
106. M A N DE V I L L E , John. The voyages & travels of Sir John Mandevile, Knight, … to the Holy Land, and to
Hierusalem: as also to the lands of the Great Caan, and of Prestor John: to Inde, and divers other countries: ...
London, Richard Chiswell, Benjamin Walford, Matthew Wotton, George Conyers, 1696. 4º. With a woodcut ship
on the title-page and about 60 woodcut illustrations in the text (mostly about 5.5 × 8 cm) plus about 10 repeats. Gold-
tooled, red goatskin morocco by Robert Riviere in London (ca. 1875/80), one of England’s best binders. € 22 500

A rare 17th-century English edition, with about 60 different woodcut illustrations, of a classic and partly fictional 14th-century
account of travels presented as voyages of Sir John Mandeville through Turkey, Egypt, Ethiopia, Syria, Persia, Arabia, India and the
East Indies. It was originally written in French and is thought to have been compiled from various sources by Jehan d’Outremeuse
(1338–1400) of Liege. It includes many well-known stories and illustrations of monstrous people and animals in exotic lands: a man
with only one enormous foot that he can use as a parasol, a dog-headed man, a man with his face in his chest, a girl who turns into
a dragon, griffins, nine-meter giants, ants that gather gold, diamonds that mate and give birth to baby diamonds and much more
that spoke to the imagination. The book also
includes genuine descriptions of the regions
covered and gave many Europeans their first
notions of the Near East, Middle East, India
and East Indies. The part on Arabia includes an
account of the birth of Mohammed.
With early owner’s inscription and bookplates,
along with a loosely inserted signed autograph
letter (ca. 1900). 8 leaves with their margins
extended at the fore-edge and foot, the title-
page and last page somewhat worn and dirty,
but further in good condition, with a few minor
fedects. The spine is slightly faded but the
binding is still very good.
Arber, Term catalogues II, p. 593, item 8; ESTC R217088
(5 copies); Wing M417 (same 5 copies).

14th-century tales of travels in Turkey, the Middle East, Near East,

India and the East Indies, including an account of the birth of Muhammad
107. M A N DE V I L L E , John. The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maundevile.
London, J. Woodman, D. Lyon & C. Davis, 1725. 8º. Title page printed in red and black. Contemporary calf with gilt-
stamped cover fillets, rebacked to style with giltstamped red label, leading edges gilt. All edges sprinkled in red. € 7500
Rare, reliable 18th-century English edition of the classic (though partly fictional) 14th-cen-
tury account presented as voyages of Sir John Mandeville through Turkey, Egypt, Ethiopia,
Syria, Persia, Arabia, India and the East Indies, published from a 15th-century manuscript
in the Cottonian Library (MS Titus C XVI). “This is the completest edition up to date”
(Cox). According to the story he set off on his travels in 1322 from Saint Albans in England,
returned in 1343, wrote the present account in 1364 and died in 1371. It was originally written
in French and is thought to have been compiled from various sources by Jehan d’Outremeuse
(1338–1400) or Jean de Bourgoigne (d. 1372) of Liege. It includes many well-known stories and
illustrations of monstrous people and animals in exotic lands. The book also includes genuine
descriptions of the regions covered and gave many Europeans their first notions of the Near
East, Middle East, India and East Indies. The part on Arabia includes an account of the birth
of Muhammad (p. 169).
Occasional slight browning, but well-preserved. Provenance: Sold as a duplicate by the
Bodleian Library (with the Radcliffe Infirmary’s armorial bookplate and cancellation stamp);
later in the collection of H. C. Gleave (his bookplate).
Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 12. Cox I, 319. Cf. Henze III, 363 (1883 reprint of this edition). Gay 2128.

60
 The Royal Württemberg Stud: the first Arabian stud in the West
108. [M A R B AC H S T U D]. HOFAC K E R , [Caesar Paul] von. Das Königlich Württembergische Haupt-
und Landgestüt.
Marbach, no printer, 1875. 24 vintage photographs (albumen prints) by Ch. Schmid, Reutlingen, mounted on
cardboard with printed captions (c. 487 × 320 mm; images c. 270 × 210 mm to 190 × 137 mm). With 4 pp of letter-
press text (2º, green papered spine). In custom-made green half morocco solander. € 35 000

Fine set of original photographs showing

the Royal Württemberg Stud in Marbach
and its famous horses. Owned by Wilhelm,
King of Württemberg, Marbach was the
first Arabian stud in Europe. From 1852 to
1871 it was directed by Baron Julius von
Hügel, who purchased valuable stock from
the Egyptian stud of Abbas Pasha, thus
raising it to the highest standard of excel-
lence. Hügel was succeeded by Cäsar Paul
von Hofacker (1831–96), who issued the
present photo series and also composed the
accompanying text: the latter discusses the
history of the Stud and its horses, including
the stallion Sanspareil, son of the Arabian
Bajan and bred in 1816; in 1860 another
pure-bred Arabian was acquired from the
Württemberg Weil Stud. Among the pho-
toportraits are the pure-bred Arabian Zarif,
his daughter Zinka, and the stallion Shah.
Well-preserved.

Manuscript diary: primary source for the St Thomas Christians on the Malabar Coast
and the conquest of that coast by the Dutch in 1662/63
109. M A RC E L L O, Frater. Racconto del mio viaggio fatto da
Roma all’Indie Orientali anno 1656[–1663].
[Rome, India and en route between them], 1656–1663. Squarish small
8º? (15 × 10.5 cm). Manuscript in brown ink on paper, written in a Latin
script. Old laminated paper wrappers. € 35 000

Original diary kept by Frater Marcello, one of the Apostolic Commissars sent
by Pope Alexander VII to the Malabar coast of southwest India, not principally
to convert the infidels, but to promote the union of the ancient Saint Thomas
Christians with the Church of Rome. The goal of the mission was a reconcilia-
tion of the Saint Thomas Christians of the classical Syriac (Chaldaic) rite, who
had rejected their Jesuit archbishop Francis Garcia. The majority had revolted
against the archbishop in 1653 and forsaken his authority by taking an oath for
the purpose at the foot of a cross situated in Mattancherry, thereafter called the
“Coonen Cross”. They then appointed their archdeacon archbishop, violating
Church polity and effectively seceding from the Roman Church.
The diary is very important for the history of the Saint Thomas Christians on the
Malabar coast and the conquest of that coast, especially Cochin, by the Dutch
fleet under Rijcklof van Goens as it contains many, undoubtedly new details.
The manuscript has been trimmed close to the text but with no significant loss.
It shows occasional ink stains and sometimes slight browning but remains in
good condition. An important primary source for relations between Christian,
Muslim and Hindu groups on the Malabar coast in the late 1650s and the 1660s.

61
 History of Arabia under the caliphs
110. M A R IG N Y, [François Augier], Abbé de. Histoire des Arabes sous le
gouvernement des Califes.
Paris, Estienne & fils, 1750. 4 vols. 8º. Contemporary French mottled calf with
gilt spine. All edges red. marbled endpapers. € 1500

First edition of this history of Arabia, at its time a standard work of reference, covering the
years 629 through 1288 CE. German and English translations followed within a few years
of publication (the German version was prepared by the great playwright of enlightenment,
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing).
Rubbed and bumped at extremeties; occasional light browning and insignificant wrinkling
to a few pages. A good copy.
Gay 3586. Macro 1538 (“1758” in error). Brunet VI, 28011. Graesse IV, 399. Jöcher/Adelung IV, 724.

Manual of horse riding and breeding Arabian horses

111. M A R K H A M , Gervase. Cavalarice, or the English
horseman: ... Newly imprinted, corrected & augmented,
with many worthy secrects not before knowne.
(title-page second part: London, Edward Allde for
Adward White, 1616)–1617. 8 parts in 1 volume. 8º. With
the title of each part printed within the same decorative
woodcut border, numerous woodcut illustrations in text.
Contemporary calf, rebacked, preserving original spine
label. € 35 000

Second edition of an important manual of riding, breeding,

hunting, farriery and veterinary matters, by one of the earliest
western owners of, and dealers in, Arabian horses: the English
writer and poet Gervase Markham (1568–1637). Markham praises
the virtues of Turkish and Barb horses in particular: “They are to
be knowne before all horses by the finenesse of their proportions,
especially their heades and necks, which nature hath so well shap’d,
and plac’d, that they commonly save art his greatest labour: they
are swift beyond other forraigne horses, and to that use in England
we only imploy them [...]”. Besides the breeding of these horses,
Markham gives information on saddles and bits, etc., as well as
numerous cures for horse ailments.
With bookblate and several owner’s inscriptions. First quire
detached from bookblock, browned, marginal waterstains, some
occasional spots or smudges and a few wormholes in some of the
last quires. Binding slightly rubbed along the extremities. In good
condition
ESTC S112112; Poynter 19.2; cf. Dejager 137; Huth 15; Podeschi 18.

A diplomatic mission to the Middle East

112. M A RT I R E D’A NG H I E R A , Pietro. Relationi del signor Pietro Martire milanese.
Venice, Giorgio de’ Cavalli [for Nicolò Bevilacqua], 1564. Small 8º. With woodcut printer’s device to title page, a
headpiece and 3 initials. Contemp. limp vellum with handwritten spine title. € 2500

62
Early Italian translation of the account of the diplomatic mission to Egypt which Martyr d’An-
ghiera (1455–1526) undertook in 1501 on behalf of the Spanish court “with the intention of per-
suading the Sultan to adopt a policy of clemency towards the Christians of Egypt and Palestine
following the defeat of the Moors in Spain. The outcome of his visit was successful; Martyr
received the title of ‘maestro de los caballeros’, and in 1504 became Papal protonotary and prior
of Granada” (Howgego I, 689). The author would achieve fame through his chronicles of the
early Spanish expeditions to the New World, an important collection of sources on America.
Title page rather wrinkled and stained; old Italian ownership in ink to reverse. The errata
(“Errori fatti nello stamparsi”) in this edition sometimes comprise a single leaf (with a final
blank), sometimes three leaves (resulting in a total of 9 uncounted leaves at the end), but the
present copy wants the errata altogether.
Edit 16, CNCE 1888. BM-STC Italian 30. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 37. Sabin 1559. Streit XV, 1787. Cf. Gay 2500. Not in
Adams.

Letter by Cosimo I de Medici

113. M E DIC I, Cosimo I de’, Duke of Tuscany (1519–1574). Letter signed (“Il
Duca di Fiorenza”).
Florence, 27 Jan. 1552. 2º (209 × 285 mm). Remains of red seal. Includes: printed
letter patent issued by Pius V, creating Cosimo Grand Duke (Rome, Antonio
Blado’s heirs, 1569. 2º. With armorial title woodcut. € 7500

To Gregorio Stendardi (known as Capitano Goro da Montebenichi) in Montepulciano, a

condottiere of the first half of the century who had fought under Cosimo’s father Lodovico
de Medici (Giovanni dalle Bande Nere) and remained loyal to the Medici family. Cosimo
recommends governors Don Garzia and Ascanio, promising to assist Goro and pay any
expenditures but requesting that he keep the matter confidential. Also, Cosimo instructs
Goro to take weapons to Siena county and store them in a castle for future return.
Some brownstaining; traces of old folds; occasional ink corrosion. Rare.

With the portrait of Abdullah ibn Saud

in hand colour and the earliest map showing Riyadh
114. M E NG I N, Felix. Histoire de l’Égypte sous le
gouvernement de Mohammed-Aly.
Paris, A. Bertrand, 1823. 2 text vols. in 8º and atlas in 2º. With
12 lithogr. plates (6 of them hand-coloured), including a folding
hand-coloured plan and the folding, double-page map of the
Nejd. Contemp. full calf with giltstamped spine labels (text) and
original green cardboard portfolio with printed title label to cover
(atlas); maps and plates loosely inserted within. € 25 000

First edition, the extremely rare coloured issue. Mengin’s history of Egypt
from the end of the French expedition to Khedive Muhammad Ali’s
dramatic reforms of Egyptian society and culture is mainly sought for its
extensive appendix containing an early chronicle of the Wahhabis, with an
account of the sack of Derrieh. “This chronicle is ascribed to a grandson
of the Shaykh named ‘le cheykh Abderrahman el-Oguyeh’, presumably
this is Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan (d. 1869)”, who travelled from Basra to
Mecca and Medina (Cook). The folio-sized atlas contains the celebrated
portrait of Abdullah ibn Saud, leader of the first Saudi state, who was
executed by the Turks for sedition, and the famous, large map of the Nejd
country with an inset of the environs of “El-Derreth” near Riyadh by E.
F. Jombard. His commentary on the map is of particular note, being a

63
synthesis of Arab and western knowledge, with many place names added for the first time. This “notice géographique” (vol. II, pp.
549–613) also includes a “nomenclature du pays de Nedjid”, mentioning – among other places – Dubai and Qatar both in the original
Arabic and in French transliteration.
Some waterstaining throughout, but confined to margins. The work is rarely found complete with both text volumes and the atlas as
present; even the map has separately commanded several thousand pounds at auctions (cf. Sotheby’s London, 6 May 2010, lot 147).
Copies in contemporary hand colour are highly uncommon.
Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 1577. Atabey 802 (without the Atlas). Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 30. Michael Cook. On the Origins of Wahhabism. In:
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 2, No. 2 (July 1992), pp. 191–202, at 192.

115. M I N I S T È R E DE S A F FA I R E S É T R A NG È R E S . Rapports
commerciaux des agents diplomatiques et consulaires de France. Année 1894.
Perse. Mouvement commercial des principaux ports persans du golfe Persique
en 1892–1893.
(Paris, Dupont), 1894. Large 8º. Modern green leather binding, marbled
endpapers. Sold
Rare French consular report on the manufactures and commerce of Persia, providing a
detailed account of the region’s principal produce in the late 19th century. Among the
principal commodities imported to Persia are coffee (from Arabia), pearls (from the pearl
banks of Bahrain), and – remarkably – petroleum (from Russia). A British exploration
company is said to be prospecting for oil in the country, but “so far without any practical
result”: only in 1908 would large quantities of oil be discovered at Masjed Soleyman
(today, Iran possesses the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves). Exports include dried fruits
and opium as well as pearls and mother-of-pearl (largely also originating from Bahrein).
Imports from France are said to be virtually nil, and a lengthy paragraph is devoted to
the means by which commerce with the Gulf might be boosted.
Paper browned and brittle, rebound with repairs to gutter; title page slightly cracked.
OCLC 17376794.

Rare translation into French of the most important survey of the Red Sea, with an extensive map
116. MOR E S B Y, Robert, Thomas E LWON and Benoît-
Henri DA RON DE AU (translator). Instructions nautiques
sur la mer rouge.
Paris, Robiquet, 1847. With a folding steel engraved map (ca.
60 × 43 cm) by Chassant and J.M. Hacq after Pierre Daussy.
Contemporary brown cloth. Sold
Rare offprint of a pilot guide for the Red Sea in French translation, orig-
inally published in the Annales maritimes et colonials. It is based on the
results of the surveying expedition by the ships Palinurus and Benares,
under captains Robert Moresby and Thomas Elwon, in the Red Sea in
1829–1835. As the expedition was planned due to a number of collisions
of ships with reefs, this in itself due to the increasing British maritime
presence in the region, the guide’s most striking feature “is perhaps the
endemic references to corals, reefs, and shoals on almost every page”
(Wick). From a cultural point of view, the Moresby and Elwon-survey
was important in that it reverted many geographical names, established
during earlier expeditions and often honouring the explorers, to more
“authentic” names.
With the binding slightly worn at the extremities. Front paste-down with
a tear on the inside of the spine; browned and foxed throughout; map with
a few tears. A good copy, partially unopened.
Wick, The Red Sea, pp. 121–155; WorldCat (4 copies); cf. Cat. NHSM, p. 74 .

64
 Photographs taken by the author between 1905 and 1915
117. MOR I T Z , Bernhard. Bilder aus
Palästina, Nord-Arabien und dem Sinai.
Berlin, Reimer, 1916. Oblong 2º. 106 illustra-
tions on 50 plates, each with separate title,
in various sizes. With text booklet. Original
half cloth portfolio. € 40 000

Rare photographic work documenting important

cities and parts of the countryside in Saudi Arabia,
Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Palestine. Most of the
photos were taken by the author during his travels
between 1905 and 1915. The images of northern
Hejaz, Mecca, and Medina, which Moritz was
unable to visit, were taken by Turkish friends. The
images also show the construction of the Hejaz
Railway between Damascus and the holy sites of
Mecca and Medina, as well as views of Medina,
Mecca, Jeddah, Petra, and Jerusalem.
Plates and text are well preserved; portfolio shows
slight traces of repairs.

The 1774 Luso-Moroccan Treaty

118. [MORO C C A N -P ORT UGU E S E T R E AT Y OF 1774]. Tractado
de paz, de navegacao, e de commercio entre o Senhor Rey D. Jozé I° eo
Imperador de Marrocos.
Lisbon, 13 November 1774. 4º. Marbled spine. € 4500

Rare contemporary manuscript copy of the peace treaty, in 22 articles, concluded between
King José I of Portugal and the Sultanate of Morocco.
Slight browning to inset leaves. Apparently removed from a 19th-century document col-
lection, with the original leaves remargined to folio size. A principal document of Luso-
Moroccan relations.

The original edition of one

of the most important photo books:
the horse in motion, pictured
for the first time in history
119. M U Y BR I D G E , Eadward. Animal
Locomotion.
Philadelphia, published under the Auspices
of the University of Pennsylvania, plates
printed by the Photo-Gravure Company,
1887. Large 2º. Half morocco, retaining the
original cloth covers and gilt cover label. 11
(instead of 21) plates. € 40 000

65
Author’s Edition. Landmark collection of Muybridge’s revolutionary “instantaneous photography”, a self-developed technique that
allowed for high-precision series of high shutter speed stop-motion photographs. He began his work with photographing horses,
but in time it would also include athletes, birds, lions, and even camels. Muybridge first photographed a horse with all 4 hooves off
the ground in 1872. This edition consists of a selection of the most important collotypes contained in the full work; the present set
includes all the plates to show animals.
Pastedowns and spine renewed, otherwise an excellent, clean copy in the original boards.
Grolier, Truthful Lens, 123. Parr/Badger, The Photobook I, 52.

Order written by Napoléon on Saint Helena

120. N A P OL É ON, Emperor of the French (1769–1821). Autograph
manuscript (6½ lines).
Saint Helena, 1815. 102 × 103 mm. Mounted on a single page (8º) together with a
contemporary handwritten transcription. € 25 000

Notes on the Battle of Voltri (1796): “Rampon et la Harpe [–] par le Gal en chef lui meme
la deroute fut complette tout le corps d’Argenteau fut ecrase dans le tem[p]s queu Beaulieu
descendait a Voltri ou il ne trouvait plus personne” (transl.: “Rampon and la Harpe – by the
commanding General himself – defeat was complete – all of d’Argenteau’s corps was erased
while Beaulieu descended to Voltri, where he found nobody left”).
With a certification of authenticity at the bottom: “corrections de la campagne d’Italie écrit
par Napoleon à Briars, isle Ste helene en 1815 / Cte. de Las Cases”. Emmanuel, comte de Las
Cases and his son accompanied the former emperor to Saint Helena. There, he acted infor-
mally but very assiduously as his secretary, taking down numerous notes of his conversations
which thereafter took form in the famous “Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène”.

Discreet letter by Admiral Nelson

121. N E L S ON, Horatio, 1st Viscount Nelson, British admiral (1758–
1805). Autograph letter signed.
St. George, Revel Bay [Gulf of Finland], 15 May 1801. 4º. 1 p. With fly-leaf bearing
address in his handwriting, and his seal (head of Lady Hamilton). € 28 000

Fine autograph letter to “Lady Hamilton, 23 Piccadilly, London”. An important letter

written when Nelson was Commander-in-Chief in the Baltic, six weeks after the Battle of
Copenhagen. The political situation was complicated in that the Russians, while not now
openly hostile, were definitely unfriendly. The cold air of the northern latitudes disagreed
with Nelson, who had a severe cough and chill, and he was depressed at the separation
from Lady Hamilton and concerned about their baby daughter Horatia, who had been
born in January. The letter is discreet, evidently because of Nelson’s fear that it might fall
into other hands.

An outstanding Niebuhr rarity: the fourth recorded copy

122. [N I E BU H R E X PE DI T ION.] ÖDM A N N, Samuel. Sammandrag
af Justitiae-Radets Herr Casten [!] Niebuhrs Resa i Levanten och Beskrifning om
Arabien.
Stockholm, Kongl. Ordens-Tryckeriet, 1787. 8º. With 4 engr. plates. Contemp. half
calf with gilt title label on gilt spine. Edges sprinkled red. € 3500

Extremely rare sole edition of this account of the Niebuhr expedition to Arabia in the 1760s.
Produced as a cheaper alternative to the hefty 3-volume sets which appeared in German, Danish,

66
French, and other languages, the present work was printed by the Royal press and gives a summary of the journey intended for a
popular audience. Swedish interest in the expedition was elicited by the presence of the Swedish botanist and explorer Peter Forsskål
in Niebuhr’s caravan. After studying Arabic dialects, Forsskål was the first to scientifically describe many plants of the Arabian
Peninsula, before dying in Yemen of malaria in 1763. The plates, modeled after those of the German edition of 1772, depict a Turkish
Pilgrim to Mecca; an Arab woman in a hijab, with an inset detail of a burkha; an Arab farm-girl from the ‘Coffee Mountains’ of
southern Arabia; and an Arab nobleman of Yemen.
Binding rather rubbed; blank margin of first few leaves a little toned, otherwise a very good copy, clean and fresh. OCLC shows just 3
copies worldwide: the University of Texas, the Swedish National Library, and the Danish National Library. No copy seen at Anglo-
American auction since 1999.
OCLC 156793368. James Ford Bell 340.

First edition of an elaborate work on Bedouin tribes in the Arabian Peninsula

123. OPPE N H E I M , Max von. Die Beduinen.
Leipzig, Harrassowitz, 1939–1968. 4º. 5 parts in 4 volumes. With 3 frontispieces, 32 plates with photograph repro-
ductions, several folding tables and maps in texts, and a total of 6 folding maps, some in end-pocket. Uniform green
cloth. € 4500

First edition of an elaborate work on Bedouin tribes in the Arabian

Peninsula, written by the German orientalist and archeologist
Max von Oppenheim (1860–1946), who made various travels to
the Middle East in the early 20th century. “Fascination with a
society seemingly still free of the constraints of ‘civilization’ and
still governed by a shared traditional code of behaviour underlies
the admiration for the Bedouins that Max von Oppenheim shared
with many of his predecessors and contemporaries” (Gossman).
He gathered his information during nearly 40 years, and the first
volume of his ethnographic study appeared in 1939, dealing with
Bedouin tribes in Mesopotamia and Syria. In 1943 the second
volume was published, which dealt with the tribes in Palestine,
Hejaz, Transjordan and the Sinai Peninsula. The last two volumes
were posthumously published and edited by Werner Caskel (1896–
1970) comprising the tribes in Iraq, Iran and north and middle
Arabia. Most of the tables show family trees, and tribe members are
shown on the plates, along with their names and the year the photo was taken.
“Perhaps the most comprehensive work on the locations, genealogies, and interconnections of the Arab Bedouin” (Sweet).
In very good condition, only very slightly browned.
Macro 1720. Henze III, 650. L. Gossman, The passion of Max Von Oppenheim: archaeology and intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hitler (2013),
p. 18; L. E. Sweet, The central Middle East: a handbook of anthropology and published research on the Nile Valley, the Arab Levant, southern Mesopotamia, the
Arabian Peninsula, and Israel (1971), p. 157.

Rare travel account

124. OPPE N H E I M , Max von. Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf
durch den Hauran, die Syrische Wüste und Mesopotamien.
Berlin, Dietrich Reimer, 1899–1900. Large 8º. 2 vols. With 2 (instead of 3)
folding maps in rear-cover pockets and numerous illustrations in the text and
on photo plates. Original illustrated green cloth. € 8500

First edition of this rare travel account by the diplomat, archaeologist and orientalist Max
Oppenheim (1860–1946), a work that made his name as an expert on the orient. With
numerous, mainly photographic illustrations.
Bindings rubbed; wants the large general map. Some slight browning; one map in vol. 2
loose with frayed edges.
Henze III, 650ff. OCLC 13166400.

67
 A fine collection of Arabic, Persian, Ottoman, Indian and Asian decorated metal objects
125. [OR I E N TA L M E TA L C R A F T S]. K . K .
Ö S T E R R E IC H I S C H E S H A N DE L S -M US E U M .
Sammlung von Abbildungen türkischer, arabischer,
persischer, centralasiatischer und indischer Metallobjecte.
Vienna, Verlag des k. k. österreichischen Handels-
Museums, 1895. 50 plates with 5 ff. of letterpress text. In
original half cloth portfolio. 2º (340 × 465 mm). € 6500

A fine collection of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman as well as Indian

and Asian decorated metal objects, including bowls, basins, water
pitchers, and tea pots. Several separate plates show details of the
elaborate ornamentation. – Some foxing; slight defects to portfolio
flaps. Removed from the Vienna University of International Trade
with their cancelled stamps on the portfolio.
OCLC 3124615.

The Stumpff Collection of Orientalists

126. OR I E N TA L S T U DI E S A N D S C HOL A R S . A substantial collection of autographs by German,
French, and British oriental scholars.
Various places, 17th through 21st centuries, but mainly 19th century. 134 described units in folders, each mostly
containing letters, manuscripts or other documents by a single writer, comprising a total of more than 300 pages in
various formats: 2º, 4º, 8º, 12º. In excellent condition throughout, stored within acid-free tissue covers in two large
cardboard collection cases. € 52 000

The unique value of this sweeping anthology, which offers ample material for research, lies
in its inclusiveness and scope. Among the great scholars whose letters and postcards,
manuscripts, and occasional photographs are united in this vast trove are such
great names of oriental scholarship as Silvestre de Sacy (1758–1838); Anquetil-
Duperron (1731–1805), the founder of Persian studies in Europe; Antoine-
Léonard de Chézy (1773–1832), the editor of “Layla and Majnun”; Johann
David Michaelis (1717–91, discussing Abulfeda manuscripts); the leading
Arabist Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer (1801–88); Joseph von Hammer-
Purgstall (1774–1856); Karl Richard Lepsius (1810–84), pioneer of Egyptology;
Georg Friedrich Grotefend (1775–1853), decipherer of cuneiform; as well
as Gottfried Kosegarten (1792–1860) and Friedrich Wilken (1777–1840),
including their correspondence with Hammer-Purgstall. Although the bulk
of the collection focuses on university-based academic scholarship, several
Middle Eastern travellers are included here as well: Isabella Bird (1831–
1904), the first woman FRGS; the physician Michael Erdl (1815–48) and his
colleague Johann Martin Honigberger (1795–1869, about his journeys); Jacob
Hafner (1754–1809, a quotation dated 1788); Claudius James Rich (1787–1820,
writing from Baghdad); the naturalist Pierre Sonnerat (1749–1814), or the
linguists Théodore Pavie (1811–96) and Eduard Sachau (1845–1930). Numerous
early documents, often from or relating to French and British India, bear witness to the brisk trade maintained between the orient
and the occident over many centuries (a 1625 letter from Lahore to a Venetian jewel merchant; a 1778 letter about naval matters and
the situation in Pondicherry; numerous mid-19th century items of private and business correspondence from Ambala, Bombay,
Calcutta, and Madras). Several additional letters and documents by British statesmen and military commanders demonstrate how
any study of Middle Eastern matters in the 19th century invariably touched upon – and not infrequently became mingled with – the
political interests of the dominant western power in the region.
This collection was assembled by the German administrative judge Alfred Stumpff (1928–2008), a member of the German-Indian
Society of Mainz (parts of his estate are kept by the Mainz University Archives under their shelfmark NL 39). Most of the manuscript
matter has been faithfully transcribed and extensively researched and annotated by Stumpff, with his notes included with each piece
(frequently even noting the provenance as well as the date and price of acquisition).

68
 A documentary of a year spent by the author in the Arabian Gulf
127. OW E N, Roderic. The Golden Bubble. Arabian Gulf
Documentary.
London, 1957. 8º. With 13 photo illustrations and a map.
Original red publisher’s cloth with giltstamped spine title.
Original dustjacket. Sold
First printing of the first edition. A documentary of a year spent by
the author in the Arabian Gulf, discussing Bahrain, Abu Dhabi,
Buraimi Oasis, Qatar, Kuwait; hunting and falconry. Dedicated “to
the honour and glory of His Excellency Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan
Albufalah, Ruler of Abu Dhabi”. – Removed from W. H. Smith &
Son’s Lending Library (London) with bookplate to front pastedown.
Now rare.
Not in Macro.

The first two Arabic books ever printed:

an Arabic dictionary containing 30 000 entries,
accompanied by a grammar
128. PE DRO DE A L C A L A . Arte para ligeramente saber la lengua araviga, emendada y anadida y
segundamente imprimida. (And:) Vocabulista aravigo en letra castellana.
(Granada, Juan Varela de Salamanca, 1505). 4º. Two parts in one volume. Each part with separate woodcut title page,
full-page woodcut on verso, and full-page woodcut on final page as well as a woodcut table of Arabic letters and
numerous initials throughout. Final quire of first part printed in red and black. 19th-century dark brown morocco
with giltstamped spine title; leading edges gilt; ornate gilt dentelles. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. € 250 000

A fine copy, with notable provenance, of what is undoubtedly one of

the rarest and most important books related to the Arab world: the first
published grammar and the first vocabulary of Arabic, issued as two
separate works but usually encountered together (cf. Schnurrer, p. 16).
Geoffrey Roper has characterised this Arabic primer, written by the
Spanish monk Pedro de Alcalá, as the first “serious attempt to spread
knowledge of the language” (p. 130f.).
Occasional slight browning; first t. p. duststained; a few edge defects
inconspicuously repaired. The name of the author has been added in
ink on the t. p. by a 17th century owner. A fine, clean copy with wide
margins. OCLC lists only six complete copies in institutional collec-
tions, no copy traceable on the market for nearly two decades.
Provenance: 1. José Antonio Conde, Spanish orientalist (1766–1820).
Sold for £10 at Conde’s 1824 sale (by Evans of London, lot 1191:
“very rare”). 2. Sir Richard Ford, bibliophile (his signed armorial
bookplate), who purchased the book from “Mr. Rich, who brought
Conde’s library to England” (his autogr. note on flyleaf). 3. William
Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney (1835–1909),
M.P. and collector of books and Egyptian artefacts (his armorial
bookplate). Amherst’s library was dispersed in 1908. 4. Quaritch
catalogue, November 1917 (lot 406, clipped description pasted on
flyleaf).
BM-STC Spanish 68. Adams P 548–549. Palau 5697. Schnurrer 37. Panzer VII,
64, 1. Salva (Cat. de la bibliotheca) II, 2190–2191. Norton 16 & 163, 349. G. Roper,
Early Arabic Printing in Europe, in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print
Revolution. A Cross-Cultural Encounter (Westhofen 2002), pp. 129–150, at 130f., and
p. 480, with fig. 65. Vater/Jülg 26. Zaunmüller 18 (“Important source”). Ebert 16078
(“Extremely rare”).

69
 Unique set, coloured by the artist for the Duke
129. PI R S C H E R , Karl Dietrich. Abbildungen Herzoglich-Braunschweigischer Gestüt-Pferde ...
Braunschweig, 1827–1828. Oblong 1º (475 × 630 mm). 6 lithographed plates of horses, plus 1 additional lithographed
view of the stud, all coloured by Pirscher himself with highlights in gum arabic. The first plate of the series with
Pirscher’s autograph signature and dated “1828”. € 75 000

Unique set of Pirscher’s famous series picturing

the Duke’s horses, coloured by Pirscher
himself and obviously prepared for the owner
of stud. The first horse depicted is Mirza, a
“Silver grey national Arabian with red spots
on his left shoulder, presented to the King
of England by the Shah of Persia in 1819. As
the Persian envoy assured the King, this was
the noblest and most excellent Arabian ever
to have stood in his master’s stables”. The
other illustrations show mainly descendants
of Mirza, who was transferred to the Ducal
stables in 1821. The series was later expanded by
another instalment to a total of 16 plates, with
three of the seven plates redrawn and showing
different backgrounds. Thieme/Becker lists the
series as complete with 6 plates as present, as
does Steinacker (cf. below).
Apart from the present copy, neither the first
series (as thus) nor the second, expanded
edition is known in a coloured version. The use
of body colours in this set underlines the fact
that Pirscher’s lithographs, issued in black and
white only, were never intended for colouring,
and that this set was eleborately redone and modified (with numerous details – such as the trees and bushes in Mirza’s portrait –
added by hand) by the artist himself to form a unique dedication copy for his sponsor.
Karl Dietrich Pirscher (1791–1857) is one of the pioneers of lithography in Braunschweig. His horse plates are considered his best work
and were praised as “probably the most splendid specimens of their kind created in the entire 19th century” (Steinacker).
Provenance: 1. The Duke of Braunschweig’s collection. 2. I. H. Anderhub library, dispersed by auction in 1963 (in which it constituted
the second most expensive item, with an estimate of DM 2600). Slightly browned; some minor fraying to the extremities of the leaves
and a few specks, otherwise in very good condition.
Bibliotheca Hippologica I. H. Anderhub 238 (this set). Steinacker, Die graphischen Künste in Braunschweig, 114. Thieme/Becker XXVII, 90. Not in Bibl.
hippologica Johan Dejager; Huth; Mennessier de la Lance; Podeschi.

European nobility and military officers on the Polo field

130. [P OL O]. Photograph album.
Probably Germany, ca. 1900. 126 prints mounted in album, two to a page. Ca.
17 × 12 cms each. 4º. € 4500

Showing horses, riders and the audience at a Polo tournament at an unidentified, though
apparently German, track. In the background, the names of several players (of Anglo-
Saxon, German and even Hungarian background) are visible on the boards marked “Blau”
and “Weiss”: W. Sommerhoff, H. V. Scott, Capt. T. Melvill, Gildemeister, G. Heye, Graf
A. Sigray, etc.
First quire detached, occasional slight fading, but well preserved altogether.

70
 Of Balsam of Mecha
131. P OM E T, Pierre. A compleat history of druggs.
London, [William Bowyer] for R. and J. Bonwicke, and R.
Wilkin [et al.], 1725. 4º. Two vols. in one. Title page printed
in black and red. With 86 numbered engr. plates (often
with multiple images per plate). Old panelled calf, neatly
rebacked to style with original gilt label laid down, leading
edges gilt. € 6500

Second edition in English, drawing upon Pomet’s own travels, as well

as his expertise and business as a practicing pharmacist. Contains
many notices of oriental medicinal plants and herbs, including the
famous “Balsam of Mecca”: “The Turks, who go a pilgrimage every
year to Mecha, bring from thence a certain dry white balsam, in
figure resembling white copperas calcin’d, especially when it is stale.
The person who made me a present of about half an ounce, assur’d
me, that he brought the same from Mecha liquid, and that the smell
is the same as observ’d before. The same person likewise did testify to
me that it was as good as Balm of Gilead” (p. 205).
Early bookplate (“IKJ”) and ownership signature (“H. Jones”), occa-
sional dusting or minor offsetting. A very good, crisp copy.
ESTC T111989. Wellcome IV,142. Garrison-Morton 1827.1 (French ed.). Hunt II,
428 (1712 ed.).

1813 Portuguese-Arabic treaty

between British-occupied Portugal and Ottoman Algiers
132. [P ORT UG A L – M I L I TA R I A]. Tratado de paz e
amizade, ajustado entre sua alteza real o Principe Regente de
Portugal, e o Bei, e Regencia de Argel, em 14 de Junho de 1813.
Lisbon, Impressào Regia, [1813]. 4º. With the woodcut crowned
arms of the exiled Prince Regent João of Portugual. Set in roman
and Arabic types with incidental italic. Disbound, with the original
blank endleaf still attached. Sold
Rare first and only edition of a bilingual (Portuguese and Arabic) treaty of
peace and friendship between Portugal and Algiers, signed on 14 June 1813.
For Portugal it invokes the exiled Prince Regent João in Brazil without ever
naming him, while Algiers is represented by the Ottoman governor (bey)
of Algiers and pasha Haji Ali. The British, at war with Napoleon in Spain,
had mediated the treaty in absence of João, who had fled with his family to
Brazil in 1808 under pressure from England, which occupied Portugal. The
treaty calls for peace, access to ports and free trade between the worldwide
dominions of Portugal and Algiers.
Title-page slightly foxed and a small waterstain in the lower margin through-
out, otherwise in very good condition, only slightly trimmed, with some
deckles remaining. A rare and valuable primary source for Portugese relations
with the Ottoman Empire during the Napoleonic Wars.
WorldCat (5 copies); not in Porbase.

71
 A perfect copy of the original edition
133. PR I S S E D’AV E N N E S , Achille Constant
Théodore Émile. L’Art Arabe d’après les monuments du
Kaire.
Paris, Morel, [1869–]1877. 1 volume of text (4º) and 3 vols.
of plates (large 2º). With 34 lithogr. plates (all with tissue
guards) and 73 text illustrations. Half morocco with gilt-
stamped title to gilt spine. Spine rebacked. Plate volumes
all with half title, title, list of contents and a total of 200
engraved plates (130 of which are chromolithographs and
48 tinted lithographs). Plate volumes bound uniformly
with text volume in giltstamped half morocco with cloth
covers. € 65 000

Very scarce first edition of this splendid, unsurpassed standard

work on Islamic art. Prisse d’Avennes spent many years in Egypt
after 1826, first as an engineer in the service of Mehmet Ali. After
1836 he explored Egypt disguised as an Arab and using the name
Edris Effendi; during this period he carried out archaeological exca-
vations in the valley of the Nile. In 1860, Prisse d’Avennes returned
to France with a wealth of documentation and drawings, which he
subsequently had reproduced by specially trained draughtsmen and
published in this monumental set.
Beautiful, complete set (the last copy sold at auction was incom-
plete). Text and plates uncommonly clean and in an excellent state
of preservation throughout, in contrast to the known copies in
libraries and in institutional possession.
Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 138–140.

”A significant milestone on Qatar’s road to cultural progress”

134. QATA R H I S T ORY C OM M I T T E E and
A S S O C I AT ION OF A R A B H I S T OR I A N S . Papers
presented to the Historical Studies Conference on Eastern Arabia.
Doha, Dar-Al-Uloom Est., 1976. With two colour photographs of the
Emir of Qatar and the Heir Apparent and 12 pages of black and white
photographs of the conference. Original black faux leather. Sold
Rare first and only edition of the papers presented to the “Historical Studies
Conference on Eastern Arabia”, held from 21 to 28 March 1976 in Doha,
Qatar. “The Historical Studies Conference on Eastern Arabia was a significant
milestone on Qatar’s road to cultural progress and an evident indication of its
genuine interest in the documentation and writing of the history of an area
which played a prominent role in the history of world civilization. By all sci-
entific measures the Conference proved to be a solid achievement of learning
at an advanced level… The participants were about 130 professors and histo-
rians, all distinguished men interested in the history of the area. They came
from 150 countries” (pp. 12–13). All of the contributions deal with the history
of Eastern Arabia up until the 1950s, with most of them concentrating on the
Middle Ages. Several photographs show the proceedings of the conference,
the receiving of the delegates and the opening by the hosts Sheikh Khalifa bin
Hamad Al Thani and Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
Slightly loose in binding, otherwise in perfect condition.
WorldCat (7 copies).

72
 Famous work on the European trade with America and India,
including the well-known map of the Arabian Peninsula by Rigobert Bonne
135. R AY N A L , Guillaume Thomas [and Rigobert B ON N E]. Histoire philosophique et politique des
établissements et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes.
Geneva, Pellet, 1780. 10 vols (8º) and atlas (4º) in 11 vols. With engr. portrait, 9 frontispieces, 50 engr. maps, and 23
folding tables. Contemp. half calf with spine label; atlas bound in contemp. full calf. € 7500

First ten-volume edition of this famous work on the European trade with
America and India. The atlas includes the well-known map of the Arabian
Peninsula by Rigobert Bonne. “This map covers from 25’–60’ E and 10’–50’ N.
It shows the north east of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula with its three classic
divisions, Arabia Deserta, Arabia Petraea and Arabia Felix. On the part showing
the Arabian Peninsula, [... the data] is concentrated in the west” (Al Ankary
coll.). Primarily written by Diderot and the encyclopédists, this the work saw
no less than 12 editions until 1821. The text deals with the commercial relations
between Europe and their colonies. Raynal’s treatises on the evils of slavery and
the moral obligation to aid the underprivileged were ahead of their time, and
Raynal was harshly criticised and forced into exile.
Contemporary ownership “Hippolyte Cazenove” to endpapers; atlas volume
slightly browned. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist
Herry W. Schaefer.
Sultan Bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, The Gulf in Historic Maps, p. 198. Khaled Al Ankary
Collection p. 388. McMinn 56. Sabin 68081. Feugère 51. Phillips 652. Brunet IV, 1126. Graesse VI,
40. Cf. Kress B 314 & 315.

One of 200 copies

136. R I V I È R E , Henri / Migeon, Gaston. La céramique dans
l’art musulman.
Paris, Émile Lévy, 1913. Imperial 2º (405 × 474 mm). 2 vols. With 10
colour illustrations in the the text and 100 full-page coloured illus-
trations mounted on plates. Sumptuous dark brown contemp. full
calf, gilt, covers lined in silk, with silk endpapers. € 25 000

First edition of this monumental publication on Islamic pottery, no. 107

of 200 copies printed. All ceramics pictured within the two volumes are
described in detail with place and date of origin as well as the current owner
(mostly French noble or institutional collections). Includes a bibliography on
the subject and list of plates.
Union Club bookplate. Contemporary bindings somewhat rubbed; hinges
protessionally repaired, otherwise a fine copy, clean throughout. Rare.
Not in Arntzen/Rainwater.

Significant document concerning the custody of the Holy Places

137. ROBL E S , Alonso de, Fray. [Letter concerning the restitution of the Holy Places to the custody of the
Franciscans from the Greek Orthodox Church].
[Palestine?, ca. 1680/90?]. 2º (30 × 21 cm). Written in brown ink on laid paper with a Genoa coat of arms watermark,
most likely a preliminary draft, with corrections. Text in Spanish, in a legible Latin hand. With some contemporary
or near contemporary corrections in text, and marginal notes. Sold

73
 An historically significant letter, probably a preliminary draft, written by Fray Alonso
de Robles, “Comisario General de Jerusalem”, showing the rivalry between the Greek
Orthodox and Catholic Churches for the custody of the Holy Places in the 17th century. It
was written after a long period of hostilities in the 17th century when at first the Orthodox
Church became the only custodian of the Golgotha (1634) and ousted the Catholics from
the Sepulchre (1676), but eventually the Roman Church recovered its exceptional rights to
the Sepulchre and Golgotha (1691).
The letter has a contemporary or near contemporary manuscript title (summary) at the end,
written in another hand. In good condition.

Important study of 9th century Egypt

138. RO OR DA , Taco (ed.). Abul Abbasi Amedis, Tulonidarum primi, vita et
res gestae.
Leiden, S. & J. Luchtmans, 1825. Large 4º (22,6 × 28,4 cm). Later wrappers. € 1500
An early, important study of Ahmed ibn Tulun (835–884), the founder of the Tulunid dynasty
that ruled Egypt and Syria between 868 and 905. Contains extensive source quotations in
Arabic. “An extensive monograph, and a very excellent effort, valuable especially for its notes
[...] Wüstenfeld’s later account of the Tulunids in his ‘Statthalter von Ägypten’ may be called
dated with more justification” (C. H. Becker, Beiträge zur Geschichte Ägyptens unter dem
Islam [1903], p. 150).
Occasional insignificant browning. An untrimmed, unsewn copy.
Graesse I, 7. Kayser I, 21.

Mercantile letter from Cairo to Marseille

139. S A LT I E L , Isaac. [Letter, signed, to Pierre-Honoré Roux in
Marseille, concerning settlement in relation to his goods salvaged from the
ship Gio. Giuseppe Lolebri].
Cairo, 28 December 1753 (continued 30 January 1754). 2º (33 × 22 cm).
Folded letter written in Italian, signed in both Italian and Hebrew.
Bifolium, recto of the first leaf fully written, verso partially. Address on
verso of second leaf, with the remains of a red wax seal. Sold
Letter written in Italian by the Jewish merchant Isaac Saltiel, addressed to Pierre-
Honoré Roux (1695–1774), a tradesman based in Marseille, France. It concerns goods
owned by Saltiel on a salvaged ship, the Gio. Giuseppe Lolebri, giving a list of his
goods that were on the ship (wool and wax). He asks Roux to provide him with the
settlements and accounts of his effects recovered from the ship and to pay money to
a certain Captain Prepan. Saltiel also requests Roux to send him various colours of
cloth, and to hand the remaining money to Abram Aruli, master of the customs in
Alexandria. It is possible Saltiel himself was based in Alexandria, since he mentions
he is staying in Cairo to settle his interests and asks Roux to send the cloth and
money to Alexandria.
A few tiny spots and a few wormholes, not affecting the legibility of the text. In very
good condition.

74
 The foundation of English horse racing: portraits of Godolphin Arabian’s direct descendants
140. [S E Y MOU R , James, and Thomas Spencer (artists). Portraits and Pedigrees of the Most Celebrated Racers
from Paintings by Eminent Artists, with portraits of the Jockeys.]
[Arundel and London, Thomas Butler, 1751–1753]. Oblong 2º (310 × 370 mm). 30 engraved sheets, with 30 (of 34)
portraits of thoroughbred race-horses (lacking nos. 10, 15, 31 and 34). Old half calf with marbled covers. € 35 000

A spectacular, exceedingly rare album illustrating

the starting point of horse racing in England, when
native mares were crossbred with imported oriental
stallions. W. S. Sparrow notes, in 1922, “rare, no
doubt, because so many copies have been broken up
in order that the prints might be sold one by one”.
The integral engraved text surrounding the image of
horse and jockey provides the history and breeding
of the subjects of the portraits. The first three horses
depicted in this charming album are direct descend-
ants of the three foundation stallions of the modern
Thoroughbred breed, namely the Godolphin Arabian
(Bajazet, plate 2), the Darley Arabian (Childers, plate
3), and the Byerly Turk (Old Partner, plate 1). All of
the other race horses described here trace back to
these three stallions just imported into England from
the Middle East, as well.
With armorial bookplate with cipher of George
Simon Harcourt, Earl Harcourt (1736–1809) on
front pastedown. Some early ms. annotations at
beginning, some tears and repairs extending into
text, first plate laid down.
Sparrow, p. 77. Cf. Lane British Racing Prints Seymour 2,
nos. 1–7, 11–18, 20–24, 26, 28–33. Mellon Sporting and Animal
Prints Seymour 13, nos. 1–7, 11–18, 20–24, 26, 28–33. Cf. Siltzer
British Sporting Prints, 389.

Very rare study of Indian Muslim customs, manners, social habits and religious rites
141. SH U R R E E F, Jaffur (Ja’far Sharif). Qanoon-e-Islam, or the Customs
of the Moosulmans of India.
London, Parbury, Allen, and Co., 1832. Large 8º. With lithogr. frontispiece
and 18 lithogr. plates. Half calf with red morocco label to spine. Marbled
endpapers. € 1500

First edition of this very rare study of Indian Muslim customs, manners, social habits and
religious rites. At the request of the British-Indian surgeon Gerhard Andreas Herklots
(1790–1834), the work was composed in his native Dakhini by the “liberal-minded” Ja’far
Sharif and then translated by the editor. Subsequently published under title “Islam in
India, or, The Qanun-i-Islam; the customs of the Musalmans of India”.
Extremities very slightly rubbed and bumped. Occasional brownstaining, otherwise in
good condition. Provenance: engr. bookplate of George R. Elliot on front pastedown;
later in the library of the Indian-born surgeon Charles Marsh Beadnell (1872–1947; his
ownership on flyleaf).
OCLC 5152176.

75
 Several of the earliest examples of mapmaking in the Gulf region
142. S I LV E I R A , Luís. Ensaio de Iconografia das Cidades Portuguesas do Ultramar.
Lisbon, 1955. Royal 2º (500 × 365 mm). 4 vols. Original printed wrappers. Sold
Original edition of this important, scholarly work of cartographic reference, profusely
illustrated with exceedingly rare manuscript maps, charts and views of the
Portuguese colonies from the 15th to the 19th century. Among these are
several of the earliest examples of mapmaking in the Gulf region now
constituting the United Arab Emirates: Dibba, Sohar, Kalba and
al-Bidiyah are shown in attractive early 17th-c. views, as are Barka
and Muscat in Oman, along with several views of Hormuz. The cities
are pictured with their fortresses and the villages’ houses among palm
groves outside the fortifications. Vol. I is dedicated to Morocco and
the adjacent islands (the archipelagos of Madeira and Azores); vol. II to
sub-Saharan Africa (divided into Occidental and Oriental Africa); vol.
III to Near and Far East Asia, and vol. IVto Brazil. Introduction (vol. I) by
Luís Silveira in Portuguese and English. Summaries in English in the other
volumes.
OCLC 1472455.

The most complete set known of an exceedingly rare Turkish costume book
143. S I LV E S T R E , C[harles] F[rançois]. Differents habillements
de Turcs.
No place, [c. 1700]. Large 4º (195 × 268 mm). Title and 30 captioned
plates, engraved throughout (image size ca 110 × 170 mm). Late 19th
century half calf with gilt spine rules and 18th or early 19th c. gilt-
stamped lozenge label on upper cover. € 20 000

Charming, rare suite of engravings showing the costumes of the Turks, including
the Sultan and various courtiers of the Porte, Ottoman soldiers and janissaries,
an Arabian preacher, a falconer, street salesmen, a porter smoking a long meer-
schaum pipe, and several Turkish ladies (one in surprisingly revealing attire).
Charles-Francois Silvestre (1667–1738) held the title of Drawing Master to the
King. The present suite, dedicated to Louis, Duke of Burgundy, reflects the
orientalist fashion of its time but is also a highly original work of art demonstrat-
ing a vivid, flamboyant style and not apparently based on earlier illustrations.
Uncommon thus with 31 plates including the title: the copies listed by both Hiler
and Colas, as well as that in the Gennadius Library at the American School
of Classical Studies at Athens, are oblong volumes containing only 30 plates
including the title, on a total of 15 leaves, while the Lipperheide copy comprised a
mere 22 plates including the title, making this the most complete set known.
Insignificant browning and fingerstaining, more pronounced in title but on the
whole confied to the wide margins.
Hiler 799; Colas 2744 (both listing 30 plates including title). Lipperheide Lb 25 (listing title and 21 plates).

Chromolithographed map of the Sinai Peninsula and northeast Egypt

144. [M A P – S I N A I – E G Y P T]. The peninsula of Sinai, the Negeb and lower Egypt, to illustrate the history of
the patriarchs and the exodus.
London, Stanford’s Geographical Establishment, 1879. Chromolithographed map (ca. 60.5 × 77 cm), divided into 28
pieces mounted on cloth for folding, with a small inset map of the northern Arabian Peninsula. Scale ca. 1:380 000.
Contemporary marbled paper. € 750

76
Large chromolithographed map of the Sinai desert and northeast Egypt, with
the supposed route of Moses and the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan high-
lighted in red. An inset map at the lower right depicts “the migration of Terah
and Abraham”.
Added in manuscript in red ink is the route of the expedition by the American
explorer John Lloyd Stephens (1805–1852), with the manuscript note “Map
accompanying Mr. Stephens’ report”, probably referring to Stephens’ Incidents
of travel in Egypt, Arabia Petraea, and the Holy Land, published in 1837.
Only slightly browned, with some manuscript addition in red ink, as
mentioned above, and a large letter D. added with blue pencil next to the map’s
title. Overall in very good condition.
Ibrahim-Hilmy, The literature of Egypt and the Soudan, p. 450.

Accounts of 9th century Arabian voyages to India and China

145. S I R A F I, Abu Zayd Hasan ibn Yazid, Louis-Mathieu
L A NG L È S & Joseph Toussaint R E I N AU D (eds.). Relation des
voyages faits par les Arabes et les Persans dans l’Inde et à la Chine dans
le IX° siècle de l’ère chrétienne. Texte arabe imprimé en 1811 par les soins
de feu Langlès publié avec des corrections et additions et accompagné
d’une traduction française et d’éclaircissements par M. Reinaud.
Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1845. 16º. 2 vols. Printed blue wrappers. Sold
Editio princeps of the Arabic text, with French translation, of Sirafi’s “Silsilat
al-tawarikh”, a commentary on an anonymous account of Arabic trade with China
and India. In two books: the first said to be taken down from statements made
by a merchant named Sulaiman, the second a continuation of the first, by Hasan.
Appended to the Arabic text are extracts from the Maruj al-dahab and the Kitab
Altanbih by Ma’sudi. – In 1718 the Abbé Renaudot, grandson of Theophraste
Renaudot, published a volume entitled “Anciennes relations des Indes et de la
Chine”, by two Muslim travellers who visited the East in the 9th century AD – a
French translation of a manuscript fragment which was part of Colbert’s library.
In 1811 the orientalist Louis-Mathieu Langlès set out to publish the original Arabic
version, but death overtook him before he had time to accompany his edition with
a preface or commentary, and the project remained unfinished in the Imprimerie
Royale until Reinaud, professor of Arabic at the School of Oriental Languages,
completed it with his own translation and numerous notes.
GAL S I, 405. Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, 1924–1925. Pagès et Mourier 715.

Slave market on the African coast

146. [S L AV E RY ]. Der Sclavenhändler. Scene auf der
Küste von Afrika.
Vienna, J. Höfelich, 1845. 340 × 480 mm. Lithograph
(L. Müller after A. F. Biard) on India Proof Paper. € 950
A slave market on the African coast, including scenes of torture.
A few tears, waterstains and kinks; some browning.

77
 Rare print of a slave market
147. [S L AV E RY ]. Der Sclavenhandel. La vente d’Esclaves.
No place, ca 1800. 270 × 400 mm. Aquatint in contemporary hand colour,
engraved by “J. L. T.” after “J. R. P.” € 2500

Three partly exposed women before a large tent, being advertised and inspected by
several men dressed in fine oriental garb. On the left is another woman whose price
is under discussion, while the background shows date palms and two dromedaries. –
Rather severely stained with waterstains and a few small holes in the blank margin;
some scuff marks in the image; trimmed closely with loss to lower left corner. A very
appealing print in unsophisticated condition. Rare.

Classic work on horse anatomy

148. S N A PE , Andrew. The Anatomy of an Horse.
London, Miles Flesher for Thomas Fletcher, 1683. 2º (243 × 367 mm). With
engr. portrait of the author by R. White and 48 (of 49) engraved plates
(lacking plate I). Contemporary calf with modern morocco label to gilt
spine. € 9500

First edition. Andrew Snape served as serjeant farrier to King Charles II. In his dedi-
cation to the king, he speaks of “being a Son of that Family that hath had the honour
to serve the Crown of this Kingdom in the Quality of Farriers for these two Hundred
Years.” It is this classic work on which François Garsault was to base his 1734 “Anatomie
Générale du Cheval”.
Some brownstaining; some leaves with repaired tears, binding repaired. With armorial
bookplate with cipher of George Simon Harcourt, Earl Harcourt (1736–1809) on front
pastedown.
Huth 26. Mellon 31. Wing S4382. ESTC R-14873. Nissen ZBI, 3887. OCLC 29155938. Cf. Mennessier de la
Lance I, 526.

The earliest photographic documents of the city of Mecca, its dignitaries and its pilgrims
149. S NOUC K H U RG RON J E , Christian. Mekka. (And:) Bilder-Atlas zu Mekka.
The Hague, Nijhoff, 1888–1889. 2 vols. of text (4º)
and one volume of plates (2º, 284 × 378 mm). With
3 genealogical tables and 2 folding maps. Contemp.
half cloth with gilt spine title. Atlas: 4 chromolithogr.
plates (conjoined as 2), 6 (1 double-sized) toned lithogr.
plates, and 65 mounted photographs on a total of 40
plates; 1 letterpress leaf of contents. Contemp. half
cloth portfolio with cover title. Sold
Remarkable set, rarely encountered complete with the
plate volume. The Dutch orientalist Snouck spent a year
in Mecca and Jeddah during 1884/85 and was married to a
Mecca woman. He was the first non-Muslim to visit the city
outside the annual pilgrimage. The photographs, taken by
himself and an Arabic physician, are among the earliest to
show Mecca and its pilgrims. – First and last leaves of text
volumes somewhat browned due to wood pulp stock of past-
edowns; contemporary ink ownership and remains of a label
to title pages; some underlinings and marginal annotations.

78
Upper hinge of vol. 2 reinforced, spine of vol. 1 professionally rebacked. Plate portfolio has stamp of the “Indische genootschap”
(Indies Society of the Netherlands) on index leaf and upper cover; an edge tear to the mount of plate XXXVI. The vintage photo-
graphs, much sought as the earliest photographic documents of the city, its dignitaries and its pilgrims, are preserved in perfect
condition.
Macro 1239 (omitting mention of the Atlas). Henze V, 177. Dinse 443.

Extremely rare: 20 original photographs of Mekka by the “earliest Arabian photographer”

150. S NOUC K H U RG RON J E , Christian. Bilder aus Mekka.
Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1889. 2º (282 × 372 mm). 20 collotype prints mounted on 18 sheets loose in red gilt cloth portfolio
as issued, complete with the oft-lacking half-title, list of plates, title and preface. € 125 000

One of the earliest photographic documents of Mecca and the Hajj, preceded only by the photographs of Muhammed Sadiq Bey
published in 1881 (Sotheby’s, 4 June 1998: £1 250 000). Much rarer than the author’s similarly titled “Bilder-Atlas zu Mekka”, following
the publication of which “Hurgronje received a letter from his doctor in Makkah, whom he had taught the art of photography.
The letter contained new photographs of the hajj which were of such great interest that he decided in 1889 to publish his ‘Bilder aus
Mekka’ [...] The photographs provide an insight into the world of Makkah’s inhabitants, pilgrims from all over the Islamic world, in
addition to the sharif of Makkah, the Turkish governor, and various religious and secular figures” (Badr el-Hage, p. 46f.). “In 1981
F. H. S. Allen and C. Gavin first identified the earliest Arabian photographer by deciphering his elaborately calligraphed signatures,
which without exception had been erased from the plates reproduced by Snouck Hurgronje: ‘Futugrafiyat al-Sayyid ‘Abd al-Ghaffar,
tabib Makka’ (The Photography of the Sayyid Abd al-Ghaffar, physican of Mecca). This princely eye surgeon had been host to the
young Snouck in Mecca immediately after the Dutchman’s conversion to Islam. Snouck claimed to have taught his host how to use a
camera and attributes to him (without ever mentioning his name) the pictures reproduced in ‘Bilder aus Mekka’”.
Some chipping to edges and corners of title and mounts professionally repaired. Prints in excellent condition, only very slightly toned.
Cloth portfolio a little faded; spine repaired, with 1914 De Belder bookplate on pastedown. Very rare: only two copies at auctions
internationally during the past decades (the last, at Sotheby’s in 2006, was incomplete, lacking all the text leaves).
Macro 1233. Badr el-Hage. Saudi Arabia Caught in Time. Reading, 1997. F. E. Peters. The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Place. Princeton University
Press 1996.

79
 João III of Portugal’s 16th-century activities in Africa,
the Middle East and Brazil, large paper copy
151. S OUS A , Luis de. Annaes de elrei dom João Terceiro.
Lisbon, Typ. da Sociedade Propagadora dos Conhecimentos
Uteis, 1844. Large 4º (26 × 22 cm). With double-page litho-
graphed plate, with a facsimile of a leaf of the original manu-
script. Contemporary brown half cloth. Sold
Large paper copy of the first edition of a history of the reign of João
III of Portugal (1521–1557), primarily focusing on the recent Portuguese
conquests in the East and in Brazil. Of the 118 chapters at least 83 deal
partly or completely with Portuguese activities in Africa, the Middle East
(e.g., Mozambique, Zanzibar, Ethiopia, Ormuz, Suez, Alcacer Cequer,
Tangiers, Ceuta and Arzil), the East, at Goa, Diu, Chaul, and Calicut in
India, Ternate and Malacca, Ceylon, and China.
The history was posthumously published from a manuscript by Luis
de Sousa (ca. 1555–1632), also known as Manuel de Sousa Coutinho, his
secular name. He is considered one of the greatest Portuguese-language
authors, but is virtually unknown to the English-speaking world. He lived
an interesting and full life, entering the Knights of Malta as a novice,
getting captured by Moorish pirates, befriending Miguel de Cervantes,
travelling in South America etc. The history was posthumously published
and edited by the notable Portuguese historian Alexandre Herculano
(1810–1877) .
With an inscription on flyleaf, bookplate and embossed library stamp.
Preliminary matter browned and slightly foxed, but the main text in
very good condition. Binding slightly rubbed along the extremities, but
otherwise also very good.
Borba de Moraes, p. 822 (noting the existence of “fine paper copies”).

Catalogue of 126 Persian, Arab, Turkish, Greek,

Latin and other manuscripts and printed books
152. S PA RW E N F E L D, Johan Gabriel, donor (Eric
BE N Z E L I US & Olaus C E L S I U S , comp.). Catalogus centuriae
librorum rarissimorum manuscript. & partim impressorum,
Arabicorum, Persicorum, Turcicorum, Graecorum, Latinorum, &c.
Uppsala, Johan Henrik Werner (printer to the University), 1706. 4º.
Later paper wrappers. € 2500

Catalogue of the collection of 126 Persian, Arab, Turkish, Greek, Latin and other
books and manuscripts donated to the Library of the University of Uppsala by the
diplomat Johan Gabriel Sparwenfeld (1655–1727). The main series of manuscripts,
described in great detail, includes 41 in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, 8 in Greek
(one dating back to the eighth century) and 12 in Latin and modern European
languages. These are followed by 42 printed books including 2 in Chinese, several
in Arabic, the 1581 Ostrog Bible and several other exotic languages. A few more
manuscripts (mostly Arabic) are added at the end, plus an unnumbered geographic
manuscript in Chinese (3 volumes). This is the earliest catalogue of the Uppsala
University Library’s collections and it was compiled by the Swedish scholars Eric
Benzelius the younger and Olaus Celsius the elder.
In very good condition, with only occasional very slight foxing, wholly untrimmed.
A remarkable catalogue of an extraordinary library, especially rich in Arabic
manuscripts.
Almqvist, Sveriges bibliogr. litteratur 2838; Smitskamp, Philologia orientalis 113 note.

80
 An important, influential
and rare-to-the-market nautical classic
153. S T U R M Y, Capt. Samuel. The Mariners Magazine.
London, Richard Mount, 1700. 2º. With plates, tables and 3 volvelles. 18th
century panelled calf with the binding dated “1734” and with a newer, and
heavily buttressed, spine added. € 8500

A very good copy of this important, influential and rare-to-the-market nautical classic,
being the fourth edition with “Useful Additions”. Samuel Sturmy states that he was
apprenticed to a Bristol sailmaker and thereafter commanded ships sailing out of
Bristol, primarily to Virginia and to the West Indies. His experiences formed the core
of the work herein described, a work produced by him to provide his three brothers, his
sons, and other young seamen with all of the information they would need – even if
their own mathematical abilities were restricted to ordinary arithmetic. Sturmy wrote
in a lively fashion, and in the sections pertaining to seamanship the usual commands
and responses were set forth as a dialogue between the ship’s captain and the crew,
parts of which were used verbatim by Jonathan Swift in “Gulliver’s Travels”.
A superior copy of a rare and highly notable book: an early classic of navigation, of
which few copies in any edition have come to auction over the last several decades and
which constitutes a critical component of any any nautical library.

Collection of proverbs and sentiments,

by one of the most fertile intellects of the 5th century AH
154. AT-TA’A L I B I, Abu Mansur ‘Abd-al-Malik Ibn Muammad and Jozua
Jan Philippus VA L E T ON (ed.). [Kitab fihi Ahasin kalim an-nabi wa-’s-sahaba
wa-’t-tabi’im wa-muluk al-gahiliya wa-muluk al-islam wa-’l-wuzara’ wa-’l-kuttab
wa-’l-bulaga’ wa-huwa imma ‘l-asl wa-imma muhtasar li-kitab: al-I’gaz fi ‘l-igaz].
Specimen e litteris orientalibus, exhibens Taalibii Syntagma dictorum brevium et
acutorum.
Leiden, S. & J. Luchtmans, 1844. Large 4º (235 × 280 mm). Later wrappers. Sold
Editio princeps of this “collection of proverbs and sentiments” (Brill’s First Encyclopedia of
Islam VIII, p. 731), edited by J. Ph. Valeton with the Arabic text, Latin translation and com-
mentary. Abu Mansur al-Tha’alibi is regarded as “one of the most fertile intellects of the 5th
(11th) century [...] His numerous compilations, in which he deals by no means scrupulously
with the intellectual property of his predecessors and repeats himself frequently, deal mainly
with the poetry of his time but also with lexicology and rhetoric” (ibid., p. 730).
Occasional insignificant browning. An untrimmed, uncut copy.
GAL I, 286, no. 26.

The first Book about America by a Muslim

155. [TA R I K H A L-H I N DI A L- G H A R B I]. Tarikh al-Hindi al-Gharbi al-müsemma bi-Hadis-i nev [A
History of the Western Indies].
Qustantaniyah (Istanbul), Ibrahim Müteferrika, mid-Ramazan 1142 AH [= 1730 AD]. 4º (168 × 217 mm). All pages
ruled, border coloured in gilt. With an illuminated golden headpiece (serlevha), 4 double-page engraved plates in
contemporary colour (celestial chart, diagram with table, 2 world maps), and 13 woodcut illustrations in the text, all
coloured by a contemporary hand and partially heightened with gum arabic. Slightly later (c. 1840) half calf, with
gilt ornament and the name of the previous owner in Arabic lettering gilt to spine. Marbled endpapers. € 250 000

81
A unique copy, with notable provenance, of the first book published with Arabic lettering to contain illustrations, the earliest book
about the New World published in the Islamic world, and one of the first titles printed by a Muslim in Turkey. Formerly in the pos-
session of Ahmed Cevdet Pasha (1822–95), one of the most pre-eminent scholars of his time and a prominent figure in the Tanzimat
reforms of the Ottoman empire, the present copy is ruled in gold throughout, printed on a variety of burnished papers (a total of
30 leaves dyed in yellow, green, and brown in addition to the standard white), and coloured throughout. It is especially the contem-
porary colouring of the woodcuts, which depict curious oddities, fantastic creatures and the native people of the New World, that
lends the present specimen a visual appearance completely different from that of the rather plain copies in which this book is usually
known (14 copies recorded by OCLC). The only similarly embellished copy of the Hindi al-Gharbi we could trace is the one held by
the Lilly Library.
Old annotations in Arabic script to front flyleaf. Three leaves remargined. Celestial map with closed tears and 2.5 cm loss to upper
right corner (though slightly less near center) and minor loss to the cartouche at lower right corner; the other plates including the two
coloured world maps in excellent condition, as most of the printed pages.
John Carter Brown 463. Toderini III, 41. Karatay 250. Sabin 94396. William J. Watson, “Ibrahim Müteferrika and Turkish Incunabula,” in: Journal of the
American Oriental Society 88, no. 3 (1968), pp. 435–441, no. 4. OCLC 416474553. Cf. T. D. Goodrich, The Ottoman Turks and the New World (Wiesbaden 1990).

Portuguese break 1546 Muslim siege of Diu in Gujarat

156. T E I V E , Diogo de. Com[m]entarius de rebus in India apud
Dium gestis anno salutis nostrae M. D. XLVI.
Coimbra, (colophon: produced by João de Barreira and João Álvares,
printers to the King), 1548. Small 4º (19 × 13 cm). With woodcut arms
of King João III of Portugal on title-page. Set in Peter Schoeffer the
younger’s Parangon (121 mm/20 line or 18 point) italic and with an
extremely early use of Claude Garamont’s Canon roman (not previously
recorded before 1549). Contemporary richly black-tooled calf, rebacked,
with the original backstrip laid down. € 45 000

First edition, in Latin, of a report on the Portuguese in India and especially on

their defeat of the Muslim Gujarat Sultanate at the second siege of Diu in 1546,
written by the Portuguese humanist Diogo de Teive (ca. 1514-ca. 1570). The book
opens with a 4-page dedication to King João III, dated 1 March 1548, and two
verses (each occupying a full page), followed by the main text, dated August 1547.
The Portuguese reached India in 1498 (and regarded it as their property under the
1494 Treaty of Tordesillas concluded with Spain) but in the early years they met
stiff resistance from the Gujarats, supported at various times by the Mamluks and
the Ottoman Empire. Although they never penetrated far inland, the Portuguese
gradually came to dominate the coastal areas, in particular expanding their

82
territory and power in northwest India from 1509 to 1546. In 1546 the Gujarats under Khoja (or Khwaja) Sofar tried to retake Diu, lost
in 1509, but after a seven-month siege they were routed by the Portuguese fleet under João de Castro. This established the European
colonial power and the European spice trade in India (including what is now Pakistan), where Portugal was to be followed by the
Dutch and especially England before most of India finally gained its independence in 1947.
Only very slightly browned with some occasional, mostly marginal, minor foxing and a few small stains. Binding rubbed along the
extremities, slightly damaged at the corners and with a water stain on the back board, rebacked, as noted above. Overall in very good
condition.
Palau 328839; USTC 343307.

Celebrated poem on falconry

157. T HOU, Jacques-Auguste de. Hieracosophiou, sive de re accipitraria libri III.
Paris, Robert Etienne for Mamert Patisson, 1587. 8º. With printer’s device on t. p.
Half vellum (c. 1900) with marbled boards and giltstamped spine title. Edges
sprinkled in red. € 4500

Third edition of the famous “Hieracosophion”, the second to contain the third book. “Celebrated
poem on falconry” (Schwerdt), written in Latin hexameters by Jacques-Auguste de Thou
(1553–1617), a distinguished and highly erudite French nobleman. “De Thou succeeded his father,
Christophe, as president of parliament; he was privy councillor to Henry III, and also to Henry
IV of France, and keeper of his library. He was not thirty when he composed the elegant verses
on hawking, which were probably inspired by the experience he gained of this noble sport during
his sojourns at foreign courts” (ibid.). On p. 7, we find “an important note on the various kinds of
hawks used for Falconry, with the Latin and French names for them” (Harting).
Very minor brownstaining; traces of an old bookseller’s label on endpapers. A good copy.
Adams T 658. BM-STC French 225. Barbier IV, 1270. Harting 306. Souhart 461. Schwerdt II, 261. Thiébaud 897.
Graesse VI/2, 147. OCLC 69042873. Cf. Brunet V, 840 (first ed. 1584). Not in Renouard or Schreiber.

Illustrated description of the Yoruba people,

among the most heavily targeted of the Atlantic slave trade
158. [T UC K E R , Charlotte Maria] and Theodorus Matthijs L O OM A N. Abbeokoeta; of de dageraad
tusschen de keerkringen: eene schets van het ontstaan en den vooruitgang der zending in Yorriba. Uit het Engelsch
naar den vijfden druk vertaald, en tot op den jongsten tijd bijgewerkt.
Amsterdam, by H. Höveker (back of half-title: for the “Vereeniging ter bevordering van christelijke lectuur”), 1860.
12º. With chromolithographed frontispiece, 3 lithographs maps (2 double-page and 1 folding), 1 chromolithographed
plate and 8 woodengraved plates. Contemporary half cloth. € 800

First and only edition of the expanded Dutch translation of Abbeokuta, or Sunrise within the tropics
by Charlotte Maria Tucker (1821–1893), translated and expanded by Theodorus Matthijs Looman
(1816–1900). It is a description of Yorubaland, West Africa, and the Christian mission. The book
opens with a chapter on the slave trade — the Yoruba people were among the most heavily targeted
—, followed by chapters on the Muslim Fula people, the Niger expedition, Abeokuta, etc. and
includes maps of the West Africa, Yorubaland, and Abeokuta and several other illustrations.
The British Charlotte Tucker, a prolific children’s writer known for her realistic depiction of
the lives of the poor, is best known for her tales of India, where she travelled and worked as a
missionary.
The index loosely inserted, one plate loose, a mostly marginal tear in one page and slightly browned
throughout, but all plates still very good.
NCC (7 copies); not in Kainbacher (2016); for Tucker: K. Reynolds, “Tucker, Charlotte Maria (1821–1893)”, in: ODNB
online.

83
 Anglo-Turkish trade promoted
159. [U RQU H A RT, David]. Turkey and its resources: its municipal
organization and free trade; the state and prospects of English
commerce in the East, the new administration of Greece, its revenue
and national possessions.
London, Saunders and Otley (back of title-page: printed by Botson and
Palmer), 1833. 8º. With lithographed map as frontispiece. Contemporary
boards. € 5000

First edition; flyleaf with presentation inscription from the author to “Mr ...
Regnaudiu”. Important overview of Turkish trade, resources, infrastructure and
municipal organisation by the diplomat David Urquhart (1805–1877). After two
and a half years fighting in the Greek war of independence, Urquhart was invited
to accompany Sir Stratford Canning to Istanbul in November 1831 as an advisor
during negotiations to settle the Greek boundary. In 1832 Urquhart was sent to
Albania to cultivate the support of Rechid Pasha, leading advisor to the Turkish
sultan. Urquhart became a great supporter of Turkey, spending most of 1834 in
the country, and encouraged the British government to ally with Turkey against
Egypt. The present substantial book was written to inform the British political
class of the possible commercial benefits of an Anglo-Turkish alliance.
Some negligible discolouration in first few leaves, light wear to extremities. In
very good condition and untrimmed. Scarce, particularly in original condition as
here.
Goldsmiths’ 27883.

A utopian Ethiopia
160. U R R E TA , Luis de. Historia de la Sagrada Orden de
Predicadores, en los remotos Reynos de la Etiopia.
Valencia, Juan Chrysostomo Garriz, 1611. Small 4º (21 × 15 cm). With
woodcut arms of the Dominican order on title-page, and a variant
version on the last page, and 3 woodcuts in text (2 saints and the
Cross). Further with 24 decorated woodcut initials in two series,
including 11 repeats. Contemporary gold-tooled mottled calf, each
board with the coat of arms of the French Seguier family, rebacked
with original gold-tooled backstrip laid–down. € 35 000

First and only edition, in Spanish, of an early work on Ethiopia by the Spanish
Dominican monk Luis de Urreta (ca. 1570–1636), who wrote two volumes glo-
rifying his own order’s accomplishments in Ethiopia while diminishing those
of the Jesuits. In the present work, the second of the two, he deals specifically
with the Dominican presence in Ethiopia and the history of the Ethiopian
saints. Like the first work, the Historia ecclesiastica published in 1610, it is a late
example of a stream of geographical fantasies where Ethiopia was presented as
the wondrous utopian kingdom of Prester John, and Urreta makes the case for
an ancient Dominican presence in the country, arguing that they should thus
be given precedence over the Jesuits as Catholic missionaries in that country.
With information on two Dominicans who entered Mecca around 1580.
From the library of Pierre Seguier, Lord Chancellor of France from 1635 to
1672, best known for his appearance in The three musketeers, with his arms and
monogram stamped in gold on the binding. And with an owner’s inscription
on title-page. With a faint water stain in the lower margin of four leaves in the
introduction, a tiny corner torn from the title-page, otherwise in very good
condition. Binding heavily restored, but with the gold-tooled coat of arms still
very clear.
Finger & Piccolino, p. 117; Palau 345993; cf. Gay, Bibl. de l’Afrique et l’Arabe 2690.

84
 By the man who served as Bram Stoker’s inspiration for “Dracula”
161. VÁ M BÉ RY, Hermann (Ármin), oriental scholar, turkologist,
traveller, and secret agent for Britain (1832–1913). Autograph letter
signed.
Bozen-Gries, 4 May 1900. 8º. With autogr. envelope. € 4500

To Betti Figdor in Obermais (Meran), cancelling a meeting due to his rheumatism.

The Hungarian-born linguist and traveller Vámbéry set out from Constantinople
in 1861 disguised as a Sunni dervish under the name of Reshit Efendi, journeying
from Trebizond on the Black Sea to Tehran in Persia, where he joined a band of
pilgrims returning from Mecca and spent several months with them travelling across
Central Iran. He proceeded to Shiraz, through Ispahan, and in 1863 reached Khiva,
Bokhara, and Samarkand. He returned to Constantinople in 1864, having main-
tained his disguise throughout this time. This was the first successful journey of its
kind undertaken by a European through Armenia, Persia and Turkestan, which were
then hermetically closed to westerners, and since it was necessary to avoid suspicion,
Vámbéry could not take even fragmentary notes, except by stealth. His “Travels in
Central Asia” were published in 1865 and made him an internationally renowned
celebrity. In 2005 de-classified files in the Public Record Office (then the National
Archives) revealed that Vámbéry had been employed by the British Foreign Office
as an agent and spy whose task it was to combat Russian attempts at gaining ground
in Central Asia and threatening the British position on the Indian sub-continent. In
London, Vámbéry was acquainted with Bram Stoker, who claimed him as his con-
sultant and inspiration for “Dracula”.

Most extensive edition of an architectural classic, with 128 full-page engravings,

with a unique broadside poem celebrating the capture of Buda from the Ottomans in 1686
162. V IG NOL A , Giacomo Barozzi da. Regola de’ cinque ordini
d’archittettura, ... con la nuova aggionta di Michael-Angelo Buonaroti.
| Regel vande vijf ordens der architecture,... | Reigle des cinq ordres
d’architetture, | Regel der funff Orden von Architectur, ...| The rule of the
V. orders of architecture.
Amsterdam, Johannes Janssonius and Jan van Hilton, 1642. With an
architectural engraved title-page for part 2, an engraved portrait of
Vignola in an elaborate architectural frame, and 66 engraved architectural
illustrations.
With:
(2) PA S , Crispijn van de (I and I I ). Oficina arcularia in qua sunt
ad spectantia diversa ... | Boutique menuserie ... | Schriner Laden ... |
Schrinwerckers winckel ...
Amsterdam, Crispijn van de Pas, 1642. With an engraved title-page and 59
numbered engraved architectural plates in 6 series.
(3) [M I L I A R I A –B AT T L E OF BU DA]. L E OP OL D I. Copiis
militaribus Budam expugnantibus, & Turcas subigentibus.
[Amsterdam?, dated 1686 in chronograms]. A broadside containing a
38-line Latin poem celebrating the defeat of the Ottoman Empire by the
troops of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and his allies and their
capture of Buda (now part of Budapest) at the Battle of Buda (or possibly celebrating the expected outcome of the
battle still in progress). With 1 woodcut decorated initial and 2 decorative bands built up from arabesque typo-
graphic ornaments.
2 editions (the first in 2 parts) published together, in 1 volume. Royal 2º (44 × 28 cm) plus a 1º broadside (40 × 26.5
cm). Contemporary sheepskin parchment over flexible boards. € 7000

85
The most extensive edition of the work of the great Renaissance architect Vignola (1507–1573) as expanded by Michelangelo (1475–
1564), with the text in Italian, Dutch, French, German and English, and with numerous supplemental series of plates, some appearing
here for the first time.
The 1686 broadside used as a paste-down at the end of the book celebrates the success of the Holy Roman Empire and its allies at the
Battle of Buda, which wrested Buda (now part of Budapest) from Ottoman control after 145 years and heralded the end of Ottoman
power in Hungary. Not only does this appear to be unique and not recorded in the literature, we have also found no other record of
this anonymous poem.
With a contemporary 5-line inscription on the last free endleaf and stencilled owner’s inscription on itle-page. Lacking plate 28 in
series 5 and 16 plates in series 6, but every copy has a different make-up. With a tear in 1 plate, slightly affecting the foot of the image,
a marginal water stain at the head of the first few leaves and some dog-eared corners. Series 1 is sophisticated (each leaf cut down and
mounted on modern paper), but the book is general in very good condition, many plates fine, and only slightly trimmed. The 1686
broadside has a hole affecting a few words near the end of the first 6 lines of the poem, and was formerly folded horizontally and ver-
tically. The binding is wrinkled, with a few small tears and stains. A great monument to architectural illustration, with 128 full-page
copper plates, together with a unique broadside poem celebrating the conquest of Buda from the Ottoman Empire in 1686.
Ad 1: BAL 3452; Berlin Kat. 2586; STCN (8 copies, at least 6 incomplete); ad 2: cf. BAL 3452; Berlin Kat. 2586; STCN (8 copies, some incomplete).

First illustrated edition of the only architectural treatise

to survive from classical antiquity
163. V I T RU V I US P OL L IO, Marcus. [De architectura libri
decem].
(Venice, Giovanni Tacuino, 22 May 1511). 2º (232 × 323 mm). Four-
piece woodcut title-border with dolphins and 136 woodcut illustra-
tions and diagrams most within a double frame. Outline initials
within a double frame; woodcut orb and cross device on final page.
Modern full vellum. € 75 000

The first illustrated edition of the only architectural treatise to survive from
classical antiquity, considered the supreme authority by Italian Renaissance
architects: the single most influential work for the later development of
European architecture. The previous three editions contain diagrams only,
making this the first to include non-schematic illustrations. The woodcuts
depict ornaments, plans, elevations, proportions of the human body, heating
systems, machinery, a
ship with an odometer
and siege machines,
among other subjects.
The title border with
dolphins is itself “one
of the most influential pieces of ornamentation of the sixteenth century”
(Mortimer). The 1511 edition is also the first to be edited by Fra Giovanni
Giocondo (1433–1515), a working architect, as well as an editor for the Aldine
Press and an authority on classical inscriptions. During the last year of his life
he collaborated with Raphael and Sangallo on St. Peter’s after Bramante’s death
in 1514.
Title page remargined along gutter and fore edge (no loss to text, but possibly
supplied from another copy); some browning and faint waterstaining. Leaves G8
and K1 torn and repaired, B1–8 bound out of sequence. Still a good copy of a rare
and important edition.
Adams V 902. Fowler 393. Kat. der Ornamentstichslg. Berlin 1798. Sander 7694. Millard Italian
156. Mortimer Italian 543. Essling 1702. Norman 2157. Sander 7694.Cicognara 696. RIBA 3491. Cf.
PMM 26.

86
 The first book devoted exclusively to the education of women
164. V I V E S , Juan Luis. De institutione foeminae Christianae.
(Antwerp, Michiel Hillen van Hoochstraten for Franz Birckmann, 1524). 4º (140 × 195 mm). Elaborate woodcut
border on title-page, featuring elephant and cherubim, and with several large woodcut initials in text. Bound in
early limp vellum with manuscript title on spine; edges stained red. 17th century portrait of Vives added to inner
cover. Lengthy, exegetical early annotations to the first book De Instituenda Virgine along with readership markings.
A very good copy from the Harrach Library (Austria/Madrid), with 19th century stamp on title. € 125 000

Very rare first edition of “the first systematic study to address explicitly and
exclusively the universal education of women”, commissioned by Henry VIII’s
wife, Catherine of Aragon, who was at the time rearing her own daughter,
Mary Tudor. Translated and adapted by numerous followers, Vives’ treatise
would go on to be read in almost every European vernacular, often by women
themselves. The first edition, however, is rare in census and in commerce – and
contains passages, particularly on chastity and intellectual capacity, which were
entirely re-written in later incarnations. A fundamental document for the role
of women in Early Modern society – and particularly in Early Modern England
– this copy is especially remarkable for its state of preservation. An early reader
of Vives has here added his own comments to the chapters on the seclusion of
maidens and examples of feminine virtue.
Provenance: later stamp of the Harrach Library on title-page. The collection
originated as the personal library of Graf Ferdinand Bonaventura von Harrach,
Austrian envoy to Spain (1637–1707), and explains the characteristically Spanish
binding on the present example. Ferdinand’s son Aloys followed in his father’s
footsteps; but after his death in 1742 the collection was transferred back to the
remaining Harrach family in Vienna. Finally, the collection wound up in the
family castle ‘Schloss Bruck an der Leitha’, in Lower Austria. We have handled
numerous other Harrach copies, which seem to have formed a cohesive ‘personal
reference library’ of 16th and 17th century works for this seventeenth century
statesman.
A very good copy. OCLC shows just four copies in American institutions:
Harvard, the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, Yale, and the Huntington.
Nijhoff/Kronenberg 2167. Adams V 951. Brunet V, 1333. Estelrich 136. Cf. also Fantazzi’s introduction to a modern translation, The Education of a Christian
Woman: A Sixteenth-Century Manual (U Chicago, 2007). Kolsky, Making Examples of Women: Juan Luis Vives’ The Education of a Christian Woman.
Higginbotham, The Girlhood of Shakespeare’s Sisters: Gender, Transgression, Adolescence (U Edinburgh, 2013). Bromilow, “An Emerging Female Readership of
Print in Sixteenth-Century France?”, French Studies (2013) Vol. 67, pp. 155–169.

The differences between classical and modern Arabic

165. WA L L I N, Georg August (Yrjö Aukusti). De praecipua inter hodiernam
Arabum linguam et antiquam differentia dissertatio.
Helsingfors (Helsinki), Frenckell, 1839. 8º. Marbled boards. € 2500

Only edition of Wallin’s dissertation, a study of the differences between classical and modern
Arabic. Like his more famous contemporary J. L. Burckhardt, the Finnish orientalist Wallin
was not only fluent in Arabic, but also capable of passing for a scholarly sheikh. Financially
backed by his alma mater, the University of Helsinki, Wallin departed for the Middle
East in 1843 and set out on his expeditions from Cairo under the name of Abd al-Wali. “In
1845, proceeding southeast across the wastelands of the Nafud Desert, he reached Ha’il
then continued by force of circumstances southward to Medina and Mecca. From there
he returned to Egypt” (Howgego). After his return to Europe in 1850, Wallin was made
Professor of oriental languages at Helsingfors. His notes provide a detailed overview of the
political and religious movements and the role of the different tribes in Palestine and espe-
cially in Saudi Arabia.
Browned as common. An untrimmed, uncut copy as issued. Of the utmost rarity.
K.-E. Henriksson (A Wallin Bibliography), in: Studia orientalia 17 (1952), pp. 13–16, at p. 13. Henriksson/
Puupponen 167. Marklin 76.

87
 Important regional study of the Arabian Gulf
166. W H IG H A M , H[enry] J[ames]. The Persian Problem. An examination of the rival positions of Russia and
Great Britain in Persia with some account of the Persian Gulf and Bagdad Railway.
London, Isbister and Co., 1903. 8º. 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, others uncut. € 7500

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 assis-
tance in their power.”
Ink ownership stamp of Charles C. Sterrett, an American Presbyterian missionary to the Christian
population in the region, to the front pastedown. Binding a little rubbed and spotted, endpapers
foxed. Small inked library stamp and cancellation to the title page, otherwise very good.
Diba Collection 1978, 227. Wilson 243. OCLC 2987283.

The introduction of electricity to the Islamic world: the earliest surviving manuscript
167. Y A H Y A N AC I E F E N DI. [Introducing electricity through experiments].
Constantinople, 1227 AH (= 1812 AD). 8º (222 × 150 mm). 16 ff., mostly with 24 text lines to each page (text area
155 × 70 mm). Written in excellent Naskh script with black ink on waxed paper. Headings and highlighted words in
red. Two (folded) plates on velin paper (watermark: A. Stace 1802). With carefully executed pen-and-ink drawings
with notes in red (167 × 194 mm each). Contemp. red half leather. Covered with Ebru paper, with leather edges and
marbled endpapers. € 48 000

The original Ottoman Turkish manuscript of one of the most important texts in the history of electrical engineering and science:
the complete treatise on electrical fluid, as drafted by the Turkish engineer Yahya Naci the same year. “In the early 19th century,
the teaching of science at the Imperial Engineering School in Istanbul was mostly based on the material translated from textbooks
compiled for the French ‘grandes écoles’. Translations and compilations were generally made by the professors of the school. Yahya
Naci Efendi (d. 1824), a lecturer in French language
and sciences, compiled in 1812 a treatise introducing
the properties of electricity through experiments.
His aim was also to show that the lightning flash
and the thunderbolt were electrical phenomenons.
Yahya Naci’s main source was the chapter on elec-
tricity of Mathurin-Jacques Brisson’s (d. 1795) ‘Traité
Elémentaire de Physique’, a popular book of physics
in French colleges. This translation is important
because Yahya Naci endeavoured to create Ottoman
terms from Arabic regarding electricity and because
it points to the initiatives in introducing experimen-
tation in the teaching in the Imperial Engineering
School” (Günergün). The colophon states the name
of the scribe as “Yahya Naqi” and the date “Zilqa’da
1227 H.”, proving that the present volume contains
the author’s long-lost original manuscript.
In very fine condition; only a few insignificant spots.
Feza Günergün, Deneylerle elektrigi tanitan bir Türkçe eser:
Yahya Naci Efendi’nin Risale-i Seyyale-i Berkiyye’si. In: Osmanli
Bilimi Arastirmalari IX/1–2 (2007–2008), pp. 19–50.

88
 Very good quality amateur photos of Zanzibar
168. [Z A N Z I B A R]. Album with photographs of Zanzibar and British-Controlled East Africa in the 1940s.
East Africa, [ca. 1945]. 4º. 77 photographs, 76 of which are pasted down two-to-a-page on both sides of 19 album
leaves. 120 × 90mm, 110 × 160 mm and 210 × 160mm. Contemporary oblong black album. Sold
Many, if not most, of the photos appear to show scenes in the Stone Town
section of Zanzibar Town or elsewhere on the island. Nine photos appear
to have been taken in the Palace of Sultan Khalifa bin Harub, including
two photographs of the Sultan. There are at least three photos of the same
narrow street on which the only visible sign says “Artist Masani” followed
by some Arabic text. The large “Victory Celebration” photo at the end of
the album gives a detailed view of a large parade and a lot of onlookers
at a major intersection in Nairobi. The second largest photo shows an
unidentified group of about 40 uniformed military men (probably all or
almost all British). The first several photos as well as the last several may
have been taken on the mainland since they show flat, rather empty spaces
followed or preceded by a few photos on an unidentified ship. – Very good
quality amateur photos. Undated but probably late WWII or a bit later.
No captions. Written in pencil on the back of the large photo “Victory
celebration 1945 in Delamere Avenue the main street in Nairobi. English
cathedral extreme right (background)” and stamped “E. A. Command (P.
R. Pho S/S) Photograph”.

Unique panoramic photographs of Zanzibar and Madagascar in 1900

169. [Z A N Z I B A R – M A DAG A S C A R – M AY E T T E]. [Album with unique panoramic photographs of
Zanzibar and Madagascar].
[Zanzibar, Madagascar, Mayette, 1900]. Oblong album (25 × 34 cm) with 47 silver gelatin photographic prints,
many with handwritten captions in French. The photographs vary in size from 8 × 5.5 cm to 27 × 20.5 cm. The 30
panorama photographs measure 5.5 × 17.5 cm.
Brown cloth album made by M. Andouard
in Paris, with decorated endpapers. € 4500
A unique set of views from Zanzibar and
Madagascar, taken five years after the French
military intervention of 1894/95, also called the
Second Madagascar expedition. The unidentified
photographer can be seen in three of the photo-
graphs, wearing a white coat and white pith sun
helmet. This was the French tropical style as used
by white colonial troops since 1878, suggesting
his involvement in the French colonial army. His
travel partner is occasionally shown as well. Their
visit took place during the final years of Tippu
Tip’s (1837–1905) notorious slave trading activities
in Zanzibar.
The photo album opens with a portrait of a young
Sakalavan woman in a beautiful dress. Three other
photographs show other native women as well,
including one family with a baby. The majority
of the photographs are panoramic views, showing villages, harbours, coasts and landscapes, the first dated 28 November 1900. The
only full-page photograph in the album shows an Arab caravan marching along the beach. Rare are the few photographs taken in
Mayotte, giving some highly uncommon scenes of the island nation’s pre-development era.
Binding somewhat scratched, spine slightly worn. The front endpaper clipped. Only a few photographs slightly faded: in very good
condition.

89
 Some of the maps, prints
and drawings currently in stock

90
 “all modern maps [...] trace their roots back to these first publications” (Parry)
170. [A R A B I A N PE N I N S U L A]. BROW N, Glen F[rancis]. [United States Geological Survey of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia]. Arabian Peninsula. Map I-270 B-1.
Washington, D.C., The Survey (U.S. Geological Society), 1958. 1380 × 1216 mm. Lambert conformal conic projec-
tion, constant ratio linear horizontal scale 1:2 000 000; relief shown by hachures and spot heights. In yellow library
envelope. Sold
Detailed map of the complete Arabian Peninsula, based on the groundbreaking series
prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Arabian American Oil Company
under the joint sponsorship of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Department
of State. Also includes the territories of today’s Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab
Emirates, Oman, and Yemen. “Although the search for oil, gas and minerals was ulti-
mately to drive geological survey work across the region [...], in its early years it was
the need for water that was the catalyst for Saudi Arabia’s resource exploration. In 1944
King ‘Abd al-’Aziz approached the United States for a technical expert who could assist
with the identification and plotting of the kingdom’s natural resources, particularly
its groundwater reserves. The individual who arrived, Glen F. Brown, was one of the
pioneers of a partnership between the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the
government of Saudi Arabia that was to span the next five decades and play an important role in the development of the kingdom
[...] By 1954 the Saudi Ministry of Finance, USGS and Aramco were working together to produce the first full series of geographic and
geologic maps of the country. The first of their type in the Peninsula, these were published between 1960 and 1963 in both Arabic and
English versions, and the information they contained formed the basis of subsequent Saudi national development plans. To this day,
all modern maps of the kingdom trace their roots back to these first publications” (Parry).
In fine condition, but with library barcode label in margin. Stamp of the “Arco Exploration & Production Technology Technical
Information Center” on protective envelope.
James V. Parry, “Mapping Arabia”, in: Saudi Aramco World 2004/1, p. 20ff. OCLC 30099393.

171. B A RT H E L , Carl Friedrich, German painter (fl.

c. 1803). Drawing of a camel with bedouins in the desert.
No place, 1803. Pencil drawing, 175 × 104 mm on an
oblong sheet of laid paper (200 × 132 mm, no watermark
discernible). € 1500

Fine drawing of a pack camel in the desert, accompanied bedouins

and an Arab horseman. Signed and dated by the artist, Barthel,
who is possibly a member of the large family of Leipzig-based gold-
smiths active around the late 18th and early 19th century.
Old vertical fold, otherwise perfect.

172. B OWA ROW S K I, Carl, painter

(1853–1927). Horse Race.
No place, [c. 1900]. Grey wash on paper,
signed. 153 × 317 mm. € 1500

Anton Carl Bowarowski (1853–1927) began his studies

at the Viennese Academy under Carl von Blaas,
Eduard von Engerth, and Johann Nepomuk Geiger,
then proceeded to study in Munich (where he later
settled) under Ludwig von Loefftz and Wilhelm
Duerr. He began as a painter of small historical
scenes; from 1893 onwards, Bowarowski was also
active as an illustrator for various magazines and pub-
lishing houses.

91
 173. [DROM E DA RUS]. Arabisch post. – Il Dromedario, il corriere
in Arabie. – Dromedar, Arabische Post. – Le Dromedare, Post en
Arabie. – Dromedary, Arabian Post.
Mainz, Joseph Scholz, ca. 1880. Lithographic plate. 432 × 345 mm. € 1500
A fine popular print depicting a dromedary running through the desert, mounted
by an Arab.

174. E LW E , Jan. Carte de la Perse de L’Armenie de la

Natolie & de L’Arabia.
Amsterdam, Jan Elwe, 1792. Hand-coloured engraved map
(56 × 49 cm). Matted. € 2500

Large detailed map with elaborate figurative cartouche.

Al-Qasimi 207.

Falcon watercolours
175. [FA L C ON RY ]. Collection of ten original watercolors showing various
falcons.
Probably Scandinavia, c. 1840. Various sizes, c. 14 × 22 cm to c. 20 × 25 cm. Mounted
on 2º backing paper. Stored in custom-made half morocco solander case. € 15 000

Ten finely executed pen-and-ink drawings of different falcons in various poses, all captioned and
vividly watercoloured by a mid-19th-century artist. Includes the Saker Falcon, Iceland Falcon,
Greenland Falcon, Merlin, Lanner Falcon, Norway Falcon etc.
Well preserved.

176. F E R , Nicolas de. La Perse, La Georgie, La Natolie Les Arabies, L’Egipte et le Cours du Nil ou se trouve aussi
Le Pont Euxin La Mer Capienne La Mer Rouge et Les Golfes De Perse et D’Ormus.
Paris, Danet, 1724. Hand-coloured engraved map (570 × 425 mm). Matted. € 1500

Scarce map of the Turkish Empire, extending from Asia Minor and the
Red Sea to Persia and the Gulf of Ormuz, center of the Arabian Peninsula.
This map appeared in a later edition of Nicolas De Fer’s Atlas ou Recueil
de Cartes Geographiques, first published in 1709. The work was essentially
a composite atlas, with maps added and updated over the course of the
next 30 years. The present example bears the imprint of Guillaume Danet,
De Fer’s son in law, who took De Fer’s printing house following De Fer’s
death in 1720, along with his brother, Jacques-Francois Danet. We have
located copies of the map dated as early as 1720, so it would appear that
the map was not in the earliest editions of De Fer’s atlas and may have
been prepared as a replacement to a more general map ( L’Empire Des
Turcs, En Europe, En Asie, et En Afrique...), published until 1715.
Al Ankary 297. Not in Tibbetts, Al-Qasimi.

92
 Rare map of Southern Europe, Arabia and Africa
177. G A S TA L DI, Giacomo. Descrittione
dell’Africa.
Venice, Paolo Forlani, [1562]. Engraved map
on two sheets, joined. 440 × 600 mm. Matted.
 € 45 000

Rare. Based on the large mural map of Giacomo

Gastaldi in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice, in 1550,
considered the culmination of his work on the car-
tography of Africa through the 1540s. (The mural
was subsequently lost to overpainting.) Shows the
continent with southern Europe and Arabia; large
strapwork dedication cartouche to Thomaso Ravenna
at lower left; compass rose centre right. Trimmed
to the outer neat lines; some wear and repairs to old
folds, with loss of a few letters of the dedication. Two
small areas of sea supplied in pen facsimile. Faint
spotting, a pale uneven wash.
Tibbetts p. 47, 31. Not in Sultan bin M. Al-Qasimi, The Gulf
in Historic Maps (1st or 2nd ed.).

178. H U N T, Charles. Fisherman.

London, Gambart & Co., 1859. Engraving in original hand-colour.
673 × 495 mm. Painted and engraved by Charles Hunt & Son. € 1500
“In 1856, when 3 yrs. old, won 23 races – in 1857, won 21 races – in 1858, won 22
races. The Property of Mr. T. Parr.” – Matted.

179. [I L LUS T R AT E D BROA D SH E E T

– M E DI N A]. Bird’s-eye view of the Prophet’s
Mosque in Medina.
[Weißenburg, Burckardt, c. 1880/88]. Stencil-
coloured lithograph. 337 × 428 mm. € 12 000

One of the very rare Weißenburg illustrated broadsheets

showing oriental motifs. These were published under the
fictitious address of Hassan Uwais (Auvès) in Cairo. The
actual publisher, Camille Burckardt, was head of the
Weißenburg company from 1880 until 1888.
Slight crease with minor edge damage; occasional
browning. All of these prints are very rare; a different
print commanded £21 250 at Sotheby’s in 2012.

93
 180. L A NG R E N, H. F. van. Deliniantur in hac
tabula, Orae maritimae Abexiae, freti Mecani: al Maris
Rubri-Arabiae [...].
Copper engraving (from J. Huygen van Linschoten,
Itinerario, 1596). Printed on 2 joined sheets. 385 × 535
mm. Matted. € 9500

Famous map of the Arabian Sea between Cyprus and northern

Sumatra from one of the ed. 1596–1644. “Probably the first
detailed navigation chart printed for the Indian Ocean and the
Arabian sea” (Al Ankary 148).
Tibbetts 46. Al Ankary 148f. Gole, Early Maps 8. Schilder, MCN V, p. 140
& VII, p. 220/1. Clancy 70. Clancy/R. 67 (all illustrated).

181. L AW R E NC E , T[homas] E[dward]. Photograph

(gelatin silver print, vintage).
Probably Aqaba, 1917/1918. Black-and-white gelatin silver print,
105 × 131 mm. Sold
Undated photograph, probably showing Lawrence on the hills at Aqaba
some time in 1917–1918, squinting into the sun and dressed in bedouin
“robes of spotless white” (in the words of his biographer Richard
Aldington). Behind and below are tents and camels.
Some surface nicks; slight loss to lower left corner.
Published in: Tabachnick/Matheson, Images of Lawrence, p. 50 (source: Imperial War
Museum).

Unique view of Cairo, with evident Ottoman influences

182. L ONG H I, Gioseffo. Gran Cairo.
Bologna, Longhi, 1670. 945 × 620 mm. Engraved view on 2 sheets joined, letterpress text pasted below (4 columns in
Italian, 4 columns in Latin: “Descrittione del gran Cairo [...] Cairi quae olim Babylon”) with publisher’s imprints.
Watermark Panzano. € 20 000

Unrecorded in the standard bibliographies and without counterpart in western libraries, this unique, large-scale view of Cairo reflects
the economic and cultural effervescence of the second-largest city in the Empire: under Ottoman rule since 1517 and having expanded
south and west from its nucleus around the Citadel, Cairo in the latter half of the 17th century was second only to Constantinople.
The Ottoman influence may be discerned in the people’s clothing in the foreground as well as in the city’s architecture. On the river
Nile, the map depicts numerous trade boats and sailors. To the left are soldiers battling as part of a tournament; on the right are
the Sphinx (wearing a necklace!) and the famous pyramids of Giza: those of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, as well as the smaller
pyramids. The centre of the city shows numerous mosques and gardens. The letterpress text pasted under the engraving provides
mostly historical and geographical information (in Italian and Latin).
Longhi’s panorama seems to draw various aspects from previous works to create its own original representation of the Egyptian city.
Indeed, it bears some resemblance to Braun and Hogenberg’s 1572 “Cairos, quae olim Babylon, Aegypti maxima urbs”, published in
their famous “Civitates orbis terrarum”. There are also similarities with Donato Bertelli’s “La gran città del Cairo” (Venice 1575), as
well as with the map of “Le Grand Caire” produced by the French soldier and traveller Henri de Beauveau (published in his “Relation

94
journaliere du voyage
du Levant”, Nancy 1615).
Ultimately, these plans
probably all derive from a
1549 woodcut panorama
credited to Matteo Pagano (or
a Venetian engraving derived
from it), as they all depict the
city from the same viewpoint
and on a similar scale.
Longhi’s map even takes up
some of the ornaments of the
Braun/Hogenberg map, such
as the two people riding on
a horse and a donkey in the
foreground, though the antiq-
uities as well as the numerous
irrigation wheels are here
shown in much greater detail.
According to scholars, Gioseffo (Giuseppe) Longhi (1620–91) issued a series of views of Italian and foreign cities between 1654 and
1674. A publisher, bookseller and archiepiscopal printer, he was active in Bologna from 1650 to the time of his death. Not only did he
publish maps, but he was also a prolific literary editor, notably publishing all the dramatic works of the Italian playwright Giacinto
Cicognini. – Some small marginal tears repaired; slight marginal fraying to upper left.
Cf. Tooley, Mapmakers III, 150 (for Giuseppe Longhi); Schulz, Venice 70 (for Arrigoni/Bertarelli).

Unique view of Alexandria

183. L ONG H I, Gioseffo. Alessandria.
Bologna, Longhi, [1670s]. 1065 × 578 mm. Cloth-backed engraved view on 2 sheets joined, letterpress text pasted below
(4 columns in Italian: “Descrizione della Città di Alessandria d’Egitto”) with publisher’s imprint. Matted. € 20 000

Unrecorded in the standard

bibliographies and without
counterpart in western
libraries: a unique, large-scale
view of Alexandria as seen
from the north. Formerly
the most powerful city of the
ancient world after Rome,
Alexandria came under
Ottoman rule in 1517 and
subsequently lost much of its
importance to the new port
of Rashid (Rosette), 40 miles
east, though it would regain
some of its former prominence
with the construction of the
Mahmoudiyah Canal in 1807.
In Longhi’s engraving, the
Ottoman influence may be
discerned in the people’s clothing as well as in the city’s architecture. Within the city are several mosques; the ancient obelisks are shown
crowned with crescents. On the river Nile, which flows through the city and underneath the walls, the view depicts numerous trade
boats and sailors. Outside the walls lies Pompey’s Pillar. The Italian letterpress text pasted under the engraving provides mostly historical
and geographical information. According to scholars, Giuseppe Longhi (1620–91) issued a series of views of Italian and foreign cities
between 1654 and 1674. A publisher, bookseller and archiepiscopal printer, he was active in Bologna from 1650 to the time of his death.
An excellent specimen.
Cf. Tooley, Mapmakers III, 150 (for Giuseppe Longhi).

95
 17th century map of Arabia
184. M E U R S , Jacob van. Nova totius Arabiae
Foelicis, Petraeae, et Desertae. Amsterdam, c.
1680. Engraved map (30 × 35 cm), contemporarily
hand-coloured. Matted. € 3500
A copy of the De Witt map of Arabia, with fine
cartouches.
Al Ankary 79. Tibbetts 137.

16th century map of Arabia

185. ORT E L I U S , Abraham. Turcici Imperii
Descriptio.
Antwerp, Ortelius, 1579. Engraved map (49 × 37
cm). Contemporary hand-coloured. Matted
 € 2800

Map of the Arabian Peninsula, Turkey, North Africa,

Syria, Israel, the Balkans, etc. From the “Theatrum
Orbis Terrarum” by Abraham Ortelius.
Slightly age-toned and brownstained. Green faded to
brown; repaired tear with tiny holes in the middle.
Generally in a good condition.
Van den Broecke, 169. Al Ankary 15. Tibetts 42.

16th century map of Persia

186. ORT E L I U S , Abraham. Persici sive
Sophorum Regni Typus.
Antwerp, Christoph Plantin, 1574. Engraved map
(35 × 50 cm), contemporarily hand-coloured and
highlighted in gold. Scale 1:9 000 000. € 2500

16th century Dutch map of Persia based on the Gastaldi

map, with additional new cartographic information.
Van den Broecke 167 (first state). Alai, General maps E.70.
Al-Qasimi 30.

96
 The earliest obtainable printed map of the Arabian Peninsula
187. P T OL E M A E US , Claudius. Sexta Asiae Tabula.
[Rome, Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Buckinck for Domitius Calderinus, 1478]. Engraved map of the Arabian
peninsula, printed (as usual) on two joined 2º leaves (together 563 × 396 mm). Matted. € 75 000

Highly important early map of the Arabian Peninsula and adjoining regions, from the extraordinary 1478 Rome edition of Ptolemy’s
“Geography”, created under the direction of Conrad Sweynheym (who apprenticed with Gutenberg). The second map of the
Peninsula ever published, in its first state, this is the earliest obtainable printed map of Arabia, preceded only by the less detailed and
crudely engraved specimen in the Bologna edition of Ptolemy, which is generally regarded as unobtainable.
The present map is an excellent example of Sweynheym’s finely engraved map of Arabia, based upon Ptolemy. Among the towns
shown are Medina (Lathrippa) and the archaeological sites of Zubarah (Catara) and Al-Dur (Domana). The association of Macoraba
with Mecca is disputed. Shirley notes that “[t]he new copper plates engraved at Rome for the 1478 edition of Ptolemy’s ‘Geography’
are much superior in clarity and craftsmanship to those of the Bologna edition. There is evidence that work on the Rome edition
had been started in 1473 or 1474, and several of the plates may well have been engraved before those printed [by Taddeo Crivelli]
at Bologna in 1477. The printing was carried out by two skilled printers of German origin: Conrad Sweynheym and his successor
Arnold Buckinck; the publisher was Domitius Calderinus. Many consider the Rome plates to be the finest Ptolemaic plates produced
until Gerard Mercator engraved his classical world atlas of 1578” (p. 3).
Until the 1477 edition was definitively dated, the 1478 edition was believed to be the first printed atlas. Buckinck completed the work
started by Sweynheym, whose method of using a printing press for the copperplate maps, together with the fine engraving, produced
excellent results. Christopher Colombus owned a copy of this edition, which he annotated. The plates for the 1478 Rome Ptolemy
were later purchased by Petrus de Turre in 1490, who published the second, unchanged edition of the map; it was again reprinted in
1507. The editions are identical, although
there are different watermarks in the paper
(though there is some debate as to whether
the watermarks are in fact completely reliable
in determining the editions).
Some faint stains along the edges of the
paper and in the gutter. In very good
condition.
Al Ankary 3. Nordenskiöld 201.21. Tibbetts 4.
Campbell, Letter Punches: a Little-Known Feature of
Early Engraved Maps. Print Quarterly, Volume IV,
No. 2, June 1987, pp. 151–154. For the atlas: Shirley,
Mapping of the world 4.

188. P T OL E M A E US , Claudius.
Sexta Asiae Tabula.
Rome, 1478 (1490?) Engraved map of the Arabian peninsula, printed (as usual) on two joined sheets.
521 × 267 mm. € 95 000

Appealing full color example of the earliest

obtainable map of the Arabian Peninsula and
adjoining regions, which first appeared in the
1478 Rome edition of Ptolemy’s Geography,
“Claudii Ptholomei Alexandrini. Cosmographia
[…]” created under the direction of Conrad
Swenheym (who apprenticed with Guttenberg)
and published after Swenheym’s death (1477) by
Arnold Buckinck. The 1478 Rome edition is the
earliest printed map of the Arabian Peninsula,
preceded only by the unobtainable Bologna
edition of Ptolemy. The present map is an
excellent example of Conrad Sweynheym’s finely
engraved map of Arabia, based upon Ptolemy.
Campbell, Letter Punches: a Little-Known Feature of
Early Engraved Maps. Print Quarterly IV.2 (June 1987),
pp. 151–154.

97
 One of the earliest maps of Arabia, with unique contemporary illumination
189. P T OL E M A E US , Claudius [translated by Jacobus ANGELUS, edited by Nicolaus GERMANUS].
Sexta Asie Tabula.
Ulm, Lienhart Holle, 1482. Double-page woodcut map, fine original hand-colour, with near-contemporary manu-
script vignette illustrations of an Ababeel bird, Makkah and Kaaba in pen and wash heightened in gold. 414 × 572
mm. € 185 000

The first-ever printed woodcut map of the

Arabian Peninsula, here in original hand
colour and adorned with unique, hand–
drawn illumination added by a contempo-
rary artist. The map was published in the
first atlas printed outside Italy; it was the
first atlas to be illustrated with woodcut
maps. Remarkably, the hand–drawn
vignette illustrations include a depiction
of the relief of Makkah, besieged by
Abrahah, through the Ababeel birds,
who pelted the attacking army of war
elephants with burning stones from the
pits of the fires of hell. The image shows a
gigantic blue-and-gilt Ababeel bird above
the city, engulfed in flames – not only
one of the earliest depictions of Makkah
but also an amazing example of cross-cul-
tural exchange of narratives during the
early Renaissance, proving a Western
illustrator’s familiarity with a Middle
Eastern tradition famously referenced in the Qur’an (sura 105, known as al-Fil, The Elephant): “Wa ‘arsala ‘Aalayhim tayran ‘Ababeel,
Tarmeehim bihijaratin min sijjeel” (“And He sent against them birds in flocks, Striking them with stones of burning clay”). No other
example with these illustrations of Makkah is known, nor are they contained in any printed edition of Ptolemy.
Campbell, Earliest Printed Maps, pp. 179–210. Schreiber 5032. Tibbetts 8 (p. 37). The Heritage Library, Islamic Treasures, s. v. “Maps”. Cf. Heritage Library,
Qatar, p. 8f (illustration). Carter, Robert A. Sea of Pearls, p. 21.

From a magnificent Quran manuscript

190. [QU R A N]. Separate leaf from a Kufic manuscript on vellum.
Abbasidic (Near East or Northern Africa), 9th century. 170 × 263 mm. With gilt rosette and numerous gilt floral
ornaments between the letters and in the margins. Vocalisation marks (dots) in red. 5 lines. € 35 000

Illuminated leaf from a once-magnificent Quran manuscript with

fine gilt flower and leaf illustrations as space fillers and ornamental
border around the large Kufic script written in black ink (line height
ca. 25–30 mm). The ornamentation mainly consists in leaf designs
with the occasional blossom. Illumination of this type is exceedingly
rarely encountered among the preserved Abbasid Kufic manuscripts
pre-dating the year 1000. The script style belongs to subgroup D.I,
according to Déroche’s classification. Manuscripts in this style are
normally 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. 19–23, pp. 67–71). The red dots are vocali-
sation marks: diacritic marks were not used until later.
Some browning and staining. Brittle in places due to ink corrosion
(slight loss to individual letters). Verso rubbed, but still legible.
Cf. Fingernagel (ÖNB 2010), p. 33.

98
 A colourful mounted Bedouin falconer by leading orientalist painter
191. ROUS SE AU, Henri-Émilien. [Bedouin falconer].
[Morocco, 1920s]. Oil on wooden panel (21 × 16 cm), signed at the lower left “Henri Rousseau”. Contemporary gilded
wooden frame (33 × 28 cm). € 28 000

Colourful panel painting by the leading orientalist painter Henri-Émilien

Rousseau of a mounted Bedouin falconer, one of Rousseau’s favourite subjects.
While the sport of falconry was an important status symbol in the Middle
East and Europe, for the Bedouins however, it was a means of survival.
Rousseau (1875–1933) was a Cairo-born French painter who divided his
childhood between North Africa and France, where he studied at the École
des Beaux-Arts under the great Orientalist painter, Jean-Léon Gérôme. He,
however, broke from the style of his master and started to paint in a more
impressionistic style. Between 1920 and 1930 he travelled extensively through
the Rif and Atlas mountains of Morocco, where he befriended the chiefs of
several nomad tribes. It was probably here that Rousseau fell under the spell of
the Bedouin horsemen, which came to characterize his compositions. In 1927
more than 80 of his works from this period were displayed at the gallery of the
influential Parisian art dealer Georges Petit. This was followed by an exhibition
at the Exposition Universelle of 1931.
The panel is cracked in the length, leading to a crack in the paint of ca. 4 cm
at the right of the rider’s head, a crack of ca. 1 cm below the horse’s left hind
hoof, and from the top left to the horse’s head of ca. 7 cm., but these cracks
are only noticeable on close inspection and don not affect the paint. Some
minor craquelure in the dark red patch connecting the rider and the saddle.
Otherwise a well-executed and clean painting.
For the artist: Thieme & Becker XXIX, p. 113.

192. S C H I M A , Rudolf. Oriental watercolour. No

place, 1906. Watercolour and gouache on paper, signed.
238 × 348 mm € 3500
Rudolf Schima was a well-known Viennese cityscape
painter, especially in watercolour. In 1906 he made a long
trip to the Middle East, where he visited Egypt, Palestine,
and the Islamic countries of North Africa.

193. S C H I N DL E R , Johann Josef, painter (1777–1836). In an Oasis.

No place, [c. 1800]. Red chalk on paper, signed. 238 × 201 mm.  € 2500

Johann Josef Schindler was a very important Austrian painter, etcher and lithogra-
pher at the turn of the 19th century. A student at the Vienna Academy, he became a
member in 1818. From 1810 he worked as art teacher. His works can be found in the
Austrian Gallery Belvedere and other museums.
In good overall condition; restorations to defective top left corner and of two minor
tears at upper edge.

99
 18th Century French Map of Arabia
194. TA R DI E U, Pierre François. Carte de l’Arabie d’après
les Differents Morceaux qu’a Donnés M. Niebuhr de Cette
Partie de l’Asie, et d’aprés M.Danville pour l’Intérieur des
Terres.
Paris, c. 1780. Engraved map (33.5 × 44 cm). Matted. € 2500

Engraved map of the Arabian peninsula and southern Iran, with place
names corrected by “a scientist very educated in the Arab language”.
Al Ankary 210.

195. VAUG ON DY, Robert de. Antiquor[um] Imperiorum

Tabula [...].
[Paris], Robert de Vaugondy, 1757. Engraved map (73 × 52 cm),
hand-coloured in outline. € 1800

This finely engraved map, published in Vaugondy’s “Atlas Universel”,

extends to the Caspian Sea in the north, in the west to show Greece, east
to the Indus River, and south to include the Red Sea and the Nile River
valley. Almost the whole of Arabia is blank and unexplored, but parts of
Oman and the cities and places along the Arabian Gulf are indicated. In
good condition.
National Maritime Museum Cat. I, 317. Al Ankary 185.

Time Chart – History of Great Nations

196. S T R A S S , Friedrich. Allgemeine Uebersicht der Weltgeschichte von den aeltesten Zeiten bis auf gegenwärtige
in Strömen und Flüßen.
Augsburg, V. Zanna et Comp., [1830]. 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. Sold
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 or 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. 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.

100
 Complete geographical set
197. [U N I T E D S TAT E S G E OL O G IC A L S U RV E Y OF T H E K I NG D OM OF S AU DI
A R A B I A]. [Geographic Maps of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia].
[Washington & Jiddah, 1968–1982]. 21 sheets in full colour, each 101 × 103 to 88 × 63 cm approx., folded in original
printed envelopes with individual titles. English and Arabic. Scale 1:500 000; relief shown by hachures and spot
heights. € 7500

Complete collection of the detailed geographical maps (“B” series) of Saudi Arabia
(but also covering Bahrain and Qatar) prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey and
the Arabian American Oil Company under the joint sponsorship of the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Department of State. The surveyors divided the Peninsula
into 21 quadrangular sections, numbered 200 through 220. Mixed copy conflated from
both the U.S. and the Saudi-Arabian series, prefixed “I” and “GM”, respectively. Well
preserved.
James V. Parry, “Mapping Arabia”, in: Saudi Aramco World 2004/1, p. 20ff.

198. [WOR L D M A P]. Ottoman map of the world.

N. p., ca. 1868. Colour lithograph and stencil hand-colour.
335 × 420 mm. € 2000

This uncommon Ottoman map, printed in black and blue, with original
hand colour, shows the world in Mercator projection. The Ottoman Turkish
alphabet was used until 1928.
Small tears in margins, with a soft fold, but in very good condition.

Original painting made to be reproduced as picture postcard for the Egyptian tourist industry
199. W U T T K E , Carl. A souk in Cairo.
Cairo, 1902. Signed and inscribed “C. Wuttke. Cairo. 1902”. Oil on canvas board (20 × 28 cm). Unframed. € 9500

Painting of a souk in Cairo, by the German orientalist Carl Wuttke

(1849–1927). Paintings such as these were made to be reproduced as
picture postcards, an archetypal consumer product from the early 20th
century. Postcards, as a convenient alternative to the letter, had first
appeared in the 1870s. The simultaneous improvements in photographic
and printing techniques, led to the introduction of full-colour postcards
in the 1890s. Although photographs were used as a basis for the creation
of half-tone blocks, which were then used to print the postcards,
well-made paintings such as these by Wuttke, were just as popular. For
the numerous visitors to Egypt, picture postcards were a way of “collect-
ing” the visited sights, thereby documenting their travels.
Carl Wuttke was one of the most well-travelled artists of his time,
visiting Italy, North-Africa, the United States, China and Japan. During
his travels, he produced various pictures of sights in Egypt and China
for the Dresden firm of Römmler & Jonas, which were subsequently
reproduced as picture postcards. Wuttke’s quick style, reminiscent of
contemporary impressionism, but also of traditional oil sketches, was
well suited to that end, giving an even better suggestion of a “snapshot”
than contemporary photography.
Relined at the back and numbered (on the relining) “94”. Varnish
yellowed; craquelure in the blue and white sky parts; otherwise in very
good condition.
Ludwig, Münchner Maler im 19. Jahrhundert IV, pp. 405–406; cf. Starr,
Remembering cosmopolitan Egypt.

101
Some items of Chinese interest
currently in stock

102
 Unknown Beethoven sketchleaf
200. BE E T HOV E N, Ludwig van, composer (1770–1827). Autograph sketchleaf to op. 117, “König Stephan”
(“Ungarns erster Wohltäter”).
[Teplitz, 1811]. 2 pages in ink and pencil on 16-stave paper (322 × 234 mm), with two folds. Formerly sewn on the left
margin, leaving three punched holes. Accompanied by two autograph letters signed from Friedrich Wilhelm Künzel
in Leipzig to Fred M. Steele of Chicago, dated July 16th, 1886, discussing the acquisition and certifying the authen-
ticity of the present leaf. € 450 000

A densely-used two-sided autograph sketchleaf containing music to

opus 117, “König Stephan” (or “Hungary’s first Benefactor”), the front
showing, among other motifs, the opening cello/bassoon line for the
beginning of the first movement chorus, “Ruhend von seinen Thaten”
(Andante maestoso e con moto, C major), and the verso with material
from the end of the movement, all over with various freely written
passages in ink and pencil, mostly on single staves, some with text
underneath, containing many holograph corrections and instances
where ink is written over pencil. – The present sketchleaf, apparently
hitherto unknown to scholarship, belongs to a book of sketches that
Beethoven used while writing his stage music “König Stephan” in
1811. Beethoven created his own book from various paper on hand
and used it while at the spa in Teplitz from late 1810 into mid 1811. He
finished “König Stephan” between 20 August and mid-September
1811. The sketches are of the first chorus (after the overture).
The Beethoven-Haus in Bonn holds four other sketches from this sketchbook (viewable in their digital online archive, as entries HCB
Bsk 2/50, 3/51, 4/52, and Mh 81), all of which share the same three holes punched on the left-side margin of the present sketch.
Provenance: Friedrich Wilhelm Künzel, Leipzig, before 1886; Collection of Fred M. Steele, Chicago, purchased from the above, 1886.
Offered in the “Collection of Important Autographs in the estate of Mrs. Ella P. Steele, widow of Mr. Fred M. Steele” (Philadelphia,
1918). Acquired from the purchaser’s descendants, last located in Greenwich, CT.
For an in-depth discussion of the pages to which this sketch belongs, cf. Douglas Johnson, Alan Tyson and Robert Winter, “The Beethoven Sketchbooks”, pp. 201–206.

A letter to his student

201. BE E T HOV E N, Ludwig van. [Autograph letter, signed (“Beethoven”)].
[Vienna, September 1804?]. Oblong 4º (22 × 21 cm). Signed autograph letter in German, written in black ink on laid
paper. Matted (with all four edges of the letter visible) behind glass in an ebonized wooden frame (42 × 40 cm) with
an ornamented and gilt lip. € 175 000

An autograph letter from Beethoven, probably to Ferdinand Ries, requesting him to

proof-read parts of a piano concerto published by the Kunst- und Industriecomptoir,
very likely op. 37, the Piano Concerto no. 3 in c minor: “Would you have the kindness
to look at the parts for me. As far as I see not all parts have been engraved entirely. You
will have to see Sonnleitner about that, but make haste now: I will examine the piano
part once more myself ...” Joseph Sonnleithner (1766–1835) was a partner in the Vienna
Kunst- und Industriecomptoir. The pianist Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838), Beethoven’s
student, secretary and friend, frequently assisted him with such proofreading tasks
during his first stay at Vienna during the years 1801–05. On 19 or 26 July, Ried made
his piano début in the Vienna Augarten, performing the Piano Concerto op. 37,
Beethoven’s only piano concerto in a minor key.
With the name “Beethoven” also written on the back, in a contemporary hand.
Owned in 1927 by Emilie Schaup (d. 1942) in Vienna. With the upper third of the left
edge unevenly torn, just touching the first letter in the first line of text, some minor
stains and traces of old folds, but still in good condition, with large head and foot
margins and a deckle at the foot. Signed autograph letter from Beethoven throwing
light on the procedure for proof-reading his piano concerto no. 3 in c minor.
Beethoven, Briefwechsel GA I, p. 222, no. 190 (“ lost”); Führer durch die Beethoven-
Zentenarausstellung der Stadt Wien (1927), p. 201, no. 873.

103
 Coloured copy of Blaeu’s atlas of China, in richly gold-tooled contemporary vellum
202. [BL A E U, Joan]. M A RT I N I, Martino. Novus atlas Sinensis a Martino Martinio … [Nieuwe atlas van het
groote rijck Sina, …].
Including: G OL I US , Jacob. [Drop-title:] Byvoeghsel van ‘t Koninckryck Catay.
[Amsterdam, Joan Blaeu, 1655]. Super royal 2º (51 × 34 cm). With engraved title-page (lacking the letterpress title-label)
and 17 double-page engraved maps, all coloured by a contemporary hand. The maps include 16 maps of China and 1
general map of Japan, with richly decorated cartouches often showing several Chinese in traditional garb. The preliminar-
ies bound at the end. Contemporary richly gold-tooled, slightly overlapping vellum, remains of ties, gilt edges. € 48 000
Separately published edition, with
the text in Dutch, of Blaeu’s atlas of
China, the first atlas and geography
of China to be published in Europe.
“The seventeen maps are noteworthy
not only for their accuracy, remark-
able for the time, but also for their
highly decorative cartouches featuring
vignettes depicting regional Chinese
dress, activities, and animals. … In
addition, it is one of the first true
Sino-European publications, based on
Chinese land surveys but presenting
geographic data in a highly visual
European cartographic format” (Reed
& Demattè). The first map is a general
map of China (including Japan and
parts of Korea), followed by 15 maps
of the provinces of China and a
general map of Japan.
The maps are based on Chinese car-
tographic sources collected by the
Jesuit missionary Martinus Martini’s
(1614–1661). Martini also added a lengthy preface on the compilation process, geographical descriptions of the provinces of China
and Japan, a list of towns with their geographical co-ordinates and a history of the Manchurian war. Golius, as a result of his fruitful
contact with Martini, wrote his Byvoeghsel van ‘t Koninckryck Catay, on the Chinese reign, which is published here for the first time as
a supplement to the atlas.
Lacking the letterpress title-label on the engraved title-page, tears in the outer margin of two pages and small corner off one page torn
off; a very good copy. Binding also in very good condition, with only the spine slightly soiled and the tooling on spine slightly faded
at a few points.
V.d. Krogt, Koeman’s Atlantes Neerlandici II, 2:521A; Reed & Demattè 25.

Grotesque dwarves in folio

203. [DWA RV E S]. C A L L O T, Jacques (inspired by). Il Callotto
resuscitato. Oder neu eingerichtes zwerchen Cabinet.
[Augsburg, ca. 1710]. 2º. With engraved title-page and 49 engraved
caricature plates (numbered 1–50, incl. title-page) each in an elaborate
engraved frame (27.5 × 18 cm) decorated with arabesques, pictorial images
(many themselves caricatures, including a book and print dealer) and
grotesque human, animal or mythological figures. All coloured by a con-
temporary hand. Contemporary vellum, later paste-downs. Sold
Extremely rare, true first edition of the famous satirical “Theatre of dwarves”, a
wholly engraved book of caricatures of a wide variety of types of deformed men and
women: nobleman, intellectual, book and print dealer, official, alchemist, doctor,
soldier, pilgrim, milkmaid, etc., all depicted as grotesque dwarves. Englishmen,

104
Germans, Spaniards, Turks, blacks and Jews all feel the barbs of the artist’s pen and engraver’s burin. Though inspired by Jacques
Callot’s 1622 Gobbi dwarf series, none appears to be directly based on an earlier model.
The plates are numbered in an early hand. Title-page slightly soiled, some minor thumbing and faint waterstains throughout, a few
minor tears in the lower margins (once restored), but otherwise in good condition.
Lipperheide 3548; Muller, Historieplaten 3695; WordCat (4 copies, incl. 1 incomplete); cf. Arents 519 & part X, pp. 620–621.

Very rare Dutch edition of “one of the most influential early books on China”
204. G ON Z Á L E Z DE M E N D OZ A , Juan. De historie ofte beschijvinghe
van het groote rijck van China.
Amsterdam, Cornelis Claesz. [printed by Jacob Cornelisz Vennecool, Delft],
“1595” [= 1596/99]. 8º. Modern polished tan calf, gold-tooled spine. € 12 500

Very rare second edition in Dutch (dated in the same year as the first) of Juan González de
Mendoza’s very popular work on China, “one of the most influential early books on China to
be published in Europe” (Reed & Demattè). It offers a detailed description of China together
with lengthy accounts of several recent missionary voyages.
“The book’s first section is a survey in three sections that introduces China’s history, antiq-
uities, architecture, populace, religious beliefs and ceremonies, agriculture, military organ-
ization, and government. … Mendoza’s volume also contains descriptions of Japan and the
Philippines and a chronicle of Spanish missions in the New World” (Reed & Demattè).
The tight binding means that the inner ends of the lines of text run deep into the gutter, but the
innermost letters can be seen. With underscoring and annotations in the margins of the first
half of the book and a small hole in H4 with the loss of a couple of letters. In good condition.
STCN (2 copies); Typ. Batava 2129; WorldCat (4 copies); cf. Reed & Demattè.

Astronomical and geographical information on regions in China and India

205. G OU Y E , Thomas. Observations physiques et mathematiques, pour servir a l’histoire naturelle & à la
perfection de l’astronomie & de la geographie: envoyées des Indes et de la Chine à l’Académie Royale des Sciences à
Paris, par les Peres Jesuites.
Paris, Imprimerie Royale (colophon: Jean Anisson), 1692. 4º. With woodcut coat of arms on title-page, 2 double-page
engraved maps and 1 engraved plate. Contemporary calf, gold-tooled spine. € 12 500

Rare first edition of an extensive account of several scientific observations made to improve the astronomical and geographical infor-
mation on regions in China and India. The work contains several reports on China and Siam, made by various Jesuits, including
father Richaud who comments on the astronomy and calendar of the Siamese, and François Noël who calculated the longitude
and latitude of several villages in China. Other reports concern, among others, Cassini’s tables of Jupiter’s satellites, Tartary at the
frontier with China, a journey from the Junnam province in China to the city of Ava as it was made by some 30 000 Chinese fleeing
from Tartary, and observations on a comet that had appeared
in 1689. All these reports were collected and provided with
commentaries by father Thomas Gouye (1650–1725). The two
engraved maps depict a part of India, one showing the course
of the river Ganges and the other the course of the river Ava.
The engraved plate depicts the different letters and numbers of
the Bengali language.
With a tiny inscription (shelf mark?) on title-page. Slightly
browned, title-page slightly thumbed, some occasional small
spots, 1 map water stained in the margins, lower corner of
page 63 torn off, but overall in good condition. Leather of the
binding a bit cracked, otherwise in very good condition.
De Backer & Sommervogel III, cols. 1640–1641; WorldCat (6 copies); not
in Lust.

105
 24 engraved views made for the Emperor of China,
showing the campaign expanding his western territories
206. [H E L M A N, Isidore-Stanislas]. [Suite de seize estampes représentant les conquêtes de l’Empereur de la
Chine, avec leur explication].
With:
(2) [Supplement 1 with views 17–20].
(3) [Supplement 2 with views 21–24].
Paris, Isidore Stanislas Helman, Nicolas Ponce, 1783–1788. Oblong Imperial 2º (35 × 48.5 cm). A series of 24
numbered engraved views (plate size 27 × 43 cm; image size 24 × 41 cm), with reproductions of the engraved explana-
tion of the views, in both the earlier state covering views 1–16 and the later state covering views 1–24. Loose prints in
folders in a modern archival box. € 50 000

A fine complete series of 24 large and meticulously engraved views of the western conquests by the Qianlong Emperor (1711–1799), the
favourite grandson of the Kangxi Emperor in the Manchu Qing dynasty, who ruled China officially from 1735 to 1796. The first series
of 16 views illustrates events from 1754 to 1760, the first and most important of what the Chinese termed Qianlong’s ten great military
campaigns. The views give very detailed images of the battles, with large numbers of foot soldiers and cavalry.
The Qianlong Emperor had close relations with Europe. In 1765 he ordered the production of a series of 16 European copperplate
prints commemorating the campaign against the Zunghars, drawn by the leading European artists in China: Giuseppe Castiglione
(1688–1766), Jean Damascène, Jean Denis Attiret (1702–1768) and Jesuit Ignaz Sichelbart (1708–1780). The first edition was engraved
on enormous plates under the direction of Charles-Nicolas Cochin in Paris in the years 1769 to 1774, but few of his prints ever
reached China and it was decided to have the present new edition of the same views produced at a more practical scale. This edition
was a great success. Helman added two supplementary series to his edition, each with 4 views, giving a total of 24.
In fine condition. A rare and remarkable series of views made for the Qianlong Emperor, mostly showing his conquests in western
China.
Cordier, cols. 641–642; M. Pirazzoli-t’Serstevens, Gravures des conquêtes de l’Empereur de Chine K’ ien-Long, 1969, pp. 37–42 (views 1–20 only); Walraven,
China illustrata 177 (cf. pp. 38–48).

106
 Early annual reports on Jesuit missions in Japan and China
207. [ J E S U I T S –J A PA N – C H I N A]. Lettere del Giapone, et della
Cina de gl’anni M.D.LXXXIX. & M.D.XC.
Milan, Pacifico Pontio, 1592. 8º. With woodcut Jesuit vignette on the title-
page, woodcut initials. Re-cased in later vellum. € 9500

One of the 1592 issues of this collection containing 8 important annual reports over
the years 1589–1590 on the Jesuit missions in Japan (6 letters) and China (2 letters), first
published in 1591 (Rome, Luigi Zanetti). The other 1592-issue was published in Venice
by Giovanni Battista Giotti Senese. The letters, among others by the Portuguese Jesuit
Duarte de Sande and his companion Antionio d’ Almeida, are written to the General
of the Jesuits in Rome and provide valuable information on the Jesuit missions in these
regions as well as on the daily life, customs and political situation.
Title-page slightly soiled. Good copy of this early collection of reports concerning
Jesuit missions in Japan and China.
Cordier, Sinica, col. 796; cf. Alt-Japan-Katalog 814–815 (first edition and the other 1592-issue);
Löwendahl 32 (the other 1592-issue).

Richly illustrated and influential 17th-century book on China

208. K I RC H E R , Athanasius. Tooneel van China.
Amsterdam, Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge and the
widow of Elizaeus Weyerstraten, 1668. 2º. With engraved
frontispiece, engraved author’s portrait, 24 engraved plates
(including 2 double-page maps and 1 folding plate) and
60 engraved illustrations in text (plus another copy on a
separate leaf, without letterpress text, of the engraving on
2F3v). Including maps of China and Asia, traditional Chinese
costumes, illustrations of the Chinese and the Mughal rulers
in abundantly decorated rooms, linguistic illustrations, zoo-
logical illustrations, etc. Contemporary gold-tooled calf, later
endpapers (re-cased). € 8000

First and only edition of Glazemaker’s Dutch translation of China

illustrata, “one of the most influential books in shaping the European
conception of China in its Day” (Löwendahl), by the great Jesuit
scientist Athanasius Kircher (1601/02–1680). The work is divided
into six parts, the first on the inscriptions of the famous Nestorian
monument (early Chinese Christian inscriptions, in Chinese and
Syriac lettering), the second part gives a history of China and early
Christianity, the third on idolatry in Chinese and other Asian
cultures, including Indian and Japanese, the fourth describes China’s
government, its cities and its nature, the fifth details China’s architec-
tural and mechanical marvels and in the sixth Kircher returns to the
Chinese language and the origins of its characters.
Including the engraved author’s portrait, often lacking. The first and
last few leaves a bit frayed at the edges, some spots and a few plates
and leaves slightly browned, otherwise in good condition. The binding
recased and with some restorations, rubbed along the edges and three
of the compartments of the spine somewhat loose. A fascinating
and well-illustrated account of China, mixing fact and fiction, but
bringing both to a newly eager and curious public.
Cordier, Sinica, col. 26; Löwendahl 136 (cf. 132); cf. Merrill, Athanasius Kircher 20.

107
 The Jesuit mission in China in 1624
209. [K I RW I T Z E R , Wenceslas Pantaléon]. Histoire de ce qui s’est passé
au royaume de la Chine en l’année 1624. Tirée des letres écrites & adressées au
R.P. Mutio Viteleschi, general de la Compagnie de Iesus. Traduite de l’Italien en
François par un pere de la mesme Compagnie.
Paris, Sebastien Cramoisy, 1629. 8º. 19th-century half calf, gold-tooled spine. € 8000
First edition of the French translation of the letters from the Czech astronomer and Jesuit mis-
sionary Wenceslas Pantaléon Kirwitzer (1588–1626). The text consists of the letters that Kirwitzer
send to Mutio Viteleschi, the 6th Superior General of the Society of Jesus. The first 2 letters give
a general overview of the political situation and the position of Christianity in China, the others
are devoted to the Jesuit missions in China. “Aside from reporting on the progress of the Jesuits,
he comments on the weakness of the youthful Ming ruler...” (Lach & Van Kley). “Curieux et
rare receuil” (Chadenat).
With old shelf mark on title-page and owner’s inscription on the last page. With several leaves
browned and some occasional spots. A very good copy.
Chadenat 4896; Cordier, Sinica, col. 815; Lach & Van Kley III, p. 376; Löwendahl 81.

A landmark in the introduction of Western mathematics into the Far East,

translator’s presentation copy
210. L O OM I S , Elias (Alexander W Y L I E & L I Shanlan, translators). Dai weiji shiji [= Series of differential
and integral calculus].
Shanghai, Mohai Shuguan [= the printing office of the London Missionary Society], early summer in Xianfeng
Yiwei [= 1859]. Preliminaries plus 18 numbered parts bound in 5 volumes (29.5 × 18 cm) as intended. A book in tra-
ditional Chinese form, with a brief letterpress introduction in English, including an English-Chinese lexicon of
technical terms, a woodcut title-leaf (printed on both sides) and the Chinese text printed letterpress (from movable
type). With occasional woodcut diagrams in the text. Bound in traditional Chinese style in contemporary yellow
silk. The whole in a richly embroidered wrap-around case in yellow. € 12 500

Rare first Chinese edition of Elements of analytical geometry and of the differential and
integral calculus by the American mathematician Elias Loomis (1811–1889). The trans-
lation, nominally by the British Protestant missionary Alexander Wylie (1815–1887) but
with much help from Li Shanlan (1811–1882), who was to become “the greatest Chinese
mathematician of the 19th century” (O’Connor & Robertson), is a landmark in the
introduction of Western mathematics into the Far East in general and China in par-
ticular, setting the stage for advances in Chinese technology. Wylie gives the English
title in a heading as Algebraic geometry ... but in the text more correctly as Analytical
geometry .... After the English-language preliminaries (1 page of text, a 5-page English-
Chinese lexicon of technical terms and a 1-page table of Chinese names for Latin and
Greek letters and mathematical symbols, all with the Chinese in both Chinese char-
acters and transcribed in the Latin alphabet) and Chinese preliminaries, the book is
divided into 18 numbered parts bound in 5 volumes. Volumes 1 and 2 cover analytical
geometry, volume 3 and 4 differential calculus and volume 5 integral calculus.
The presentation inscription on the free endleaf at the beginning of vol. 1 has been
covered on the front and back with paper, but can still be made out: “W. Lockhart
Esqe with A. Wylie’s kind regards”, so Wylie gave this copy to his fellow member
of the London Missionary Society, William Lockhart (1811–1896), who worked as a
surgeon in Shanghai. In very good condition, with only an occasional small and mostly
marginal hole or tear. The bindings of the individual volumes are also very good, but
the wrap-around case, originally comprising 2 side boards and 2 end boards hinged to
each other, has come apart, and one of the end boards is lost. The first comprehensive
Chinese textbook on analytical geometry and calculus, making it a seminal work in the
scientific development of East Asia.
J. J. O’Connor & E. F. Robertson, “Li Shanlan” in: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive; M. Lackner et al., eds., New terms for new ideas: Western
knowledge ... in Late Imperial China (2001), pp. 306–307 & 322–326; WorldCat (9 copies).

108
 180 hand-coloured lithographs of China
211. M A L PI E R E , D. Bazin de. La Chine, moeurs, usages, costumes, arts et métiers, peines civiles et militaires,
cérémonies religieuses, monuments et paysages, d’après les dessins originaux du père Castiglione, du peintre chinois
Pu-Qua, du W. Alexandre, Chambers, Dadley, etc.
Paris, De Malpiere, Goujon & Formentin, and Firmin Didot, 1825–1827. 2 volumes. Large 4º (34 × 25.5 cm). With
180 lithographed plates in publisher’s hand-colouring (including a frontispiece to each volume and 1 plan of Beijing),
4 engraved plates (the first with hand-coloured illustration and the other three with musical notation). Lacking
1 plate and its accompanying letterpress description (“Porte-enseigne du corps des archers”), facsimile included.
Contemporary half tanned goatskin, gold-tooled spine. € 45 000

First edition of “a
huge collection of
attractively lith-
ographed copies
of scenes from
Chinese life of the
mid-Ch’ing period”
(Lust). The illustra-
tions show scenes of
everyday life, ships,
views, interiors,
(military) costumes
and much more,
each with one leaf of
descriptive text. The
plates were issued
from 1825 to 1827
in 30 instalments,
each consisting
of 6 hand-coloured plates, and are seldom found complete. This copy lacks only one plate and description. All the illustrations are
lithographed copies of earlier prints, including Alexander’s Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Chinese (1814),
Chamber’s Designs of Chinese buildings... (1757), Mason’s The costume of China (1800) and The punishments of China (1804), the works
of Castiglione, and others. A description of Beijing is included in the second volume illustrated with a plan.
With the bookplate of Louis Becker, Paris. Binding rubbed along the extremities, but otherwise good. Lacking one plate and text
leaf, as noted, foxing throughout, and some occasional browning; a good copy.
Brunet III, pp. 1346–1347; Colas 1957; Cordier, Sinica, col. 69; Lipperheide 1531; Löwendahl 845; Lust 60.

Important work on China, witnessing the violent overthrow of the ancient Ming dynasty
212. M A RT I N I, Martino. Tartaros en China, historia.
Madrid, Joseph Fernadez de Buendia for Lorenço de Ibarra, 1665. Small 8º
(14.5 × 10 cm). Late 18th-century gold-tooled mottled goatskin. € 9500

First edition of the Spanish translation of an “important and extremely popular work on the
history of China. Many editions followed [after the original Latin edition of 1654], … tes-
tifying of the enormous interest for China all over Europe and the impact the book had on
the European image and conceptions of the Empire” (Hanotiau). The Italian Jesuit Martino
Martini (1614–1661), travelled to China in 1643 at a time of great internal unrest, witnessing
the violent overthrow of the ancient Ming dynasty in the years 1643–1644. Besides the present
work, Martini is also well-known for the atlas of China that he published together with Joan
Blaeu.
With owner’s inscription on title-page. The title-page is somewhat worn, a small corner of
D2 torn off, a minor ink stain in the outer margins of 3 leaves and the head margin trimmed
close to the running heads. Still a good copy. Some very minor damage to the spine of the
binding, otherwise very good.
Cordier, Sinica, col. 626; Lust 45; cf Hanotiau 15; Löwendahl 107.

109
 First edition of the most influential work of the century,
inscribed by the author to César de Paepe, founder of the Belgian Socialist Party
213. M A R X , Karl. Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Oekonomie [...] Erster Band. [Author’s presentation copy
to César de Paepe].
Hamburg, Otto Meissner, 1867. 8º (147 × 225 mm). Inscribed “Au citoyen Cézar de Paepe / salut fraternel / Karl Marx /
Londres 3 Septembre 1868” on verso of title, one small pencil correction to the text, presumably by Marx. Contemporary
half calf with giltstamped spine title and marbled covers. Stored in custom-made morocco case. € 1 500 000

First edition of one of the most influential pieces of writing in world history. Inscribed not quite a year after the volume’s publication
to César de Paepe, the leader of the International Workingmen’s Association (the First International) in Belgium: “Au citoyen Cézar
de Paepe / salut fraternel / Karl Marx / Londres 3 Septembre 1868”. Curiously, Marx had first written “avec les compliments de Karl
Marx” before thinking better of such a comparatively bland dedication and erasing the just-penned words. As it had not yet settled
and oxidized, the wiped-out iron gall ink must have appeared much fainter at the time of inscribing, and Marx wrote across the then
slightly smudged area (which today appears considerably darkened) his much more cordial “brotherly greeting”.
Indeed, Marx had good reason in early September 1868 thus to draw De Paepe to himself, assuring him of their fraternal affinity:
three days later, on 6 September, the Brussels Congress of the First International was to begin, where the conflict with the French
Proudhonists would come to a head. Marx did not attend, but nevertheless succeeded in pulling the strings from London. With De
Paepe the principal leader of the Collectivist faction favoured by himself, Marx managed to sideline Proudhon’s adherents and made
the delegates accept several contentious resolutions confirming the advantages of collective, socialist ownership of the means of pro-
duction and of land. Extracts from the machinery chapter of “Das Kapital” were read at the Congress, and these quotations provided
the theoretical basis for the resolution condemning the extortionist use of machinery by the capitalist class. Notably, the General
Council also passed a resolution recommending that working men in all countries study Marx’s “Kapital”.
Educated as a physician in Brussels, the Belgian César de Paepe (1841–90) is considered, with Michail Bakunin, the co-founder
of collectivist anarchism, the theory of which they formulated independently of each other in 1866. While De Paepe was an early
disciple of Proudhon, he would often gravitate toward Marx’s positions, and he was counted second only to Marx as a theoretician of
the IWMA. In 1885 he was among the founders of the Belgian Socialist Party, though his attempts to reconcile anarchists and Marxists
ultimately isolated him within the Socialist movement.
Inscribed copies of the first edition of “Das Kapital” are of legendary rarity: only two copies are known in institutional possession
(Trinity College, Cambridge; Harry Ransom Center, Texas; the copy at Darwin House, Downe, inscribed to Charles Darwin, is the
1873 second edition). To these, research could add no more than three others, all of which surfaced in the trade within the last four
decades. The present copy, hitherto unrecorded, was acquired directly from the estate of the Frankfurt lawyer Wilhelm A. Schaaf
(1929–2015), a specialist in economic, commercial and insolvency law, in whose collection it rested for the last forty years.
A correction, presumably by Marx himself, is on page XII of the Preface, where “transatlantischen Oceans” has “trans” crossed
through in pencil. Light toning throughout, with the odd brownstain near the beginning, a tiny tear to the top edge of p. 353f., but
generally very well preserved.
PMM 359.

110
 The Kangxi Emperor’s 1716 edict and other matters on China and the Jesuits there, with a large
folding plate in Chinese and a Linnaean classification of Chinese quadrupeds in Chinese
214. M U R R , Christoph Gottlieb von. Litterae patentes Imperatoris Sinarum Kang-Hi. Sinice et Latine. cum
interpretatione R.P. Ignatii Koegleri, S.J. ... Ex archetypo Sinensi edidit additis notitiis Sinicis ... cum tabula aenea.
Nurnberg and Altdorf, J.F. Kussler and J.C. Monath, 1802. Small 4º. With a large folding engraved plate (32.5 × 30.5 cm)
with the Kangxi Emperor’s edict of 1716, a full-page woodcut table with about 65 Chinese characters on an integral leaf,
and 3 woodcuts with Chinese characters in the text. Finely bound in 20th-century red half morocco. € 5500

First and only edition of a publication of primary documents and notes concerning China
in general and the Jesuits in China in particular, written and compiled by the remarka-
ble Nürnberg Unitarian scholar Christoph Gottlieb von Murr (1733–1811). The full-page
woodcut in Chinese giving a Linnaean classification of Chinese quadrupeds is the first
Linnaean classification of Chinese animals and probably the first Linnaeana of any sort in
Chinese.
In 1706, at the height of the Chinese Rites Controversy, the Kangxi Emperor appointed
two Jesuit missionaries as his envoys to Rome, but both died when their ship capsized off
the coast of Portugal. In 1708 he appointed two new envoys, who died in 1711 and 1720. In
1716 the Emperor issued an edict on 31 October: a circular letter to all Westerners in China,
noting that no word about the four envoys had been received and that there had been no
response to the Emperor’s enquires, and that the Imperial government therefore could not
place its trust in any communications from the West. The rites issue lead the Emperor to
expel Catholic missionaries from China and severely damaged Sino-European relations.
In fine condition. The back board is very slightly rubbed and the letterpress spine label is
slightly worn, but the binding is otherwise also fine. A fine copy of an important work on
China and the Jesuits there, by an excellent and versatile scholar.
Cordier, Sinica, col. 638; Löwendahl 718; Walravens 132.

The VOC in 17th-century China,

with ca. 150 illustrations
coloured by a contemporary hand
215. N I E U HOF, Johan. Die Gesantschaft der Ost-
Indischen Geselschaft in den Vereinigten Niederländern,
an den Tartarischen Cham, und nunmehr auch
Sinischen Keyser, verrichtet durch die Herren Peter
de Gojern, und Jacob Keisern. Itzund zum zweiten
mahle hier und dar verbessert, und üm ein guhtes theil
vermehret, heraus gegeben.
Amsterdam, Jacob van Meurs, 1669. 2º (31 × 21 cm).
With engraved title-page, engraved author’s portrait,
large folding engraved map of China, 34 double-page
engraved plates and 110 half-page engravings in the text
(topographic, botanical & zoological, costume, archi-
tectural, etc.), all coloured by a contemporary hand. The
engraved title-page shows the Emperor of China with
what must be Blaeu’s 68 cm terrestrial globe (showing
India & Ceylon, Southeast Asia, China, Japan & Korea,
the East Indies and western Australia). Contemporary
blind-tooled leather over wooden boards. € 85 000

Second edition of the German translation of “the definitive

account” (Howgego) of the embassy that the VOC (Dutch East
India Company) sent to the Emperor of China, the entire trip
occupying the years 1655 to 1657. Nieuhof’s eyewitness account
was the first extensively illustrated book describing China and is,

111
among works on China, “bis heute eines der bedeutendsten und gesuchtesten” (Walravens). The second part gives a general descrip-
tion of the Chinese empire, including botany and zoology. The first part covers the East Indies and Southeast Asia before going on to
China itself. Japan, Korea and Formosa appear as well.
Nieuhof (1618–1672) joined the VOC in Batavia by 1655 after an earlier voyage to Brazil with the West India Company. He served as
steward, artist and chronicler on Pieter de Goyer and Jacob de Keyzer’s VOC embassy to the Chinese Emperor. While the embassy
was more successful than the Russian one shortly before (which was not even granted an audience), the Jesuits in the Chinese court
hindered contacts between the Emperor and the Protestant Dutch as much as they could. The party nevertheless got a more intimate
view of China than almost any other Dutch visitors of the 17th century, and the breadth of Nieuhof’s interests and the large number
of drawings he made provided a wealth of new material that makes the present work an essential primary source. Nieuhof apparently
didn’t return to the Netherlands until 1670, but sent his manuscript and drawings.
Slightly thumbed, some occasional browning and minor foxing, a few water stains, restorations to the engraved title-page and the
folding map with folds reinforced, still a good copy and the binding in very good condition. An essential primary source for any
study of seventeenth-century China and especially its relations with the Netherlands, coloured by a contemporary hand.
Cordier, Sinica, col. 2346; Howgego, to 1800, G85 & N25; Landwehr & V.d. Krogt, VOC 541 note; Tiele, Bibl. 801 note; Walravens, China illustrata 64.

“Some of the most accurate information on China

to be found in the first half of the seventeenth century”
216. PA N T OJ A , Diego de. Advis ... envoyé de Paquin cité de la Chine, au R.P. Loys de Gusman ... Sur le succes
de la religion chrestienne au royaume de la Chine. De l’entree d’aucuns peres de ladire compagnie en la cour du roy,
& de plusieurs choses memorables, qu’ils ont veu en ce païs.
Lyon, Pierre Rigaud, 1607. 12º. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment, remains of ties. € 19 000

112
 First edition in French, of an account of the Jesuit mission in China, written by the Spanish
Jesuit Diego de Pantoja (1571–1618). Pantoja was sent to Japan in 1596, but ended up in
China, where he accompanied Matthieu Ricci (1552–1610), establishing the Jesuit mission in
Beijing. “In 1602 Pantoja wrote an account of the progress of the Chinese mission in a letter
from Peking to Luis de Guzman, the provincial of Toledo. It was to become one of the most
popular and widely read of the Jesuit letterbooks: an extract was printed by Guerreiro in 1603,
then it was published in full at Seville in 1605. Apart from detailing the progress of Ricci’s
expedition, it also provides some of the most accurate information on China to be found in
the first half of the seventeenth century” (Howgego).
With a small blank slip on the title-page covering an owner’s inscription. Title-page with a
restoration in the outer margin, just touching the woodcut device, an inkstain on the opening
flyleaf and the title-page and some minor browning. A very good copy.
De Backer & Sommervogel VI, col. 173; Howgego, to 1800, P15.

Three editions by the Russian Marxist press in Geneva,

including the first edition of Plekhanov’s “Our differences”
217. PL E K H A NOV, Georgi. Ferdinand Lassal, ego zhizhn i deyatelnost.
Geneva, Osvobozdenie truda, 1887.
With:
(2) M A R X , Karl. Nisceta filosofii.
Geneva, Osvobozdenie truda, 1886.
(3) PL E K H A NOV, Georgi. Nashi raznoglasiia.
Geneva, Osvobozdenie truda, “1884” [=1885].3 works in 1 volume. Contemporary black half sheepskin. € 9500

Convolute of three rare Marxist publications, all banned in Russia at the time, by the
Gruppa Osvobozhdenie Truda (association for the emancipation of labour), the first
Russian-language Marxist political organization, based in Geneva. The group was very
active in translating, publishing and distributing Marxist works into Russian. Besides a
translation of Karl Marx’s Poverty of philosophy, originally published in French in 1847, the
convolute contains two works by one of Osvobozhdenie Truda’s founders: Georgi Plekhanov.
Ferdinand Lassal is the first edition of an unfinished biography of the German socialist
Ferdinand Lassalle, which never went beyond the present part 1. Nashi raznoglasiia is the
first edition of Plekhanov’s Our differences, one of his principal works. According to an early
Soviet historian, this work contained “practically all the basic ideas that formed the stock-
in-trade of Russian Marxism up to the end of the century” (Baron). Plekhanov argued that
the organization of a revolutionary movement among the Russian peasantry was impos-
sible. Instead, the proletariat should ally with the bourgeoisie, in which it would achieve
hegemony, in a political revolution against absolutism. For this to happen, the proletariat
would have to become class conscious through explanations provided by the socialist intelli-
gentsia. Nashi raznoglasiia was first published in 1885, but the first edition has the year 1884
on the title-page.
The Russian Marxist theoretician and revolutionary Georgi Plekhanov (1856–1918) is often
called the father of Russian Marxism. As one of the founders of the Association for the
Emancipation of Labour, he provided its theoretical framework, writing two drafts for the
Russian Social Democrats. From the Second International (1889) onwards, the group represented the Russian Social Democrats.
Though ultimately positive of the outcome of the Russian February Revolution (1917), Plekhanov was an outspoken opponent of Lenin
for the latter’s willingness to leap over the stage of capitalist development in advocating a socialist revolution in agrarian Russia.
With ownership inscriptions and some underscoring. Binding with minimal wear. Browned throughout; some ink spots on the final
page of the first work and a black spot at the top outer margin of pp. XXX–XXXI of the seconds work; very good copies of all three works.
Ad 1: Worldcat (3 copies); ad 2: Worldcat (9 copies); ad 3: Baron, Plekhanov, pp. 89–92; Svodnyi katalog russkoi nelegal’noi i zapreschchennoi pechati XIX veka
1354; Worldcat (5 copies)

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 First edition of Chinese series of enormous prints celebrating the Emperor’s conquests in Sichuan
218. QI A N L ONG , Emperor of China. [Pingding liang Jinchuan deshengtu = Views of the conquest of
Jinchuan].
[Beijing, Wu Ying Ting Press], 1778–1785. Very large oblong 1º (53.5 × 91 cm). Set of 13 (of 16) large engraved views
(50.5 × 86.5 cm), each with a Chinese poem in a rectangular white panel in the sky (based on the Emperor Qianlong’s
own personal commentary on the battles), with 2 seals. Each view is mounted on a slightly larger sheet, with brown
gouache borders and on the back a strip of yellow silk along the edge at the head. Later olive half sheepskin.. € 480 000
First edition of a series of extremely large prints produced in China by order of the Emperor Qianlong (1711–1799) to commemorate
the Chinese military victories in the Second Jinchuan Campaign (1771–1776) in the mountains of western Sichuan (Szechwan), the
second series of Qianlong’s conquest prints and the first to be produced in China. Sichuan’s distinctive mountainous landscapes and
the remarkable Jinchuan fortifications, rendered in prints nearly a meter long, make this one of the most spectacular Chinese print
series of all time. The series also shows the troops, armaments, horses, equipment, quarters and tactics of both sides. The present set
includes all thirteen views of the battles in the mountainous landscapes, but omits the last three prints, which showed the ceremo-
nies celebrating the conquest back in Beijing. This series has sometimes been incorrectly described as a Chinese copy of the series of
sixteen equally large prints commemorating one of Qianlong’s earlier conquests, of the Dzungars in western Mongolia and eastern
Turkestan (now Xinjiang), made to his order in Paris and known as Views of the conquest of western regions. The present series is in fact
entirely different, not based (except in concept) on any European predecessor. The views are said to have been painted by two Jesuits
at the Emperor’s court, Ignatius Sichelbart (1708–1780) from Bohemia and (1735–1814) and Louis de Poirot (1735–1813) from France,
who adopted the Chinese name He Qingtai, and the prints produced by Chinese artists. The first series of conquest prints, produced
in Paris, has been extensively studied and described in the literature and is regarded as a great and highly desirable rarity, but the
present even rarer series, executed entirely in China, has undeservedly received much less attention.
The only other sets of the present series that we have located outside China are at the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin and Houghton
Library at Harvard University. With a bookplate on pastedown. Lacking the last 3 plates showing views in Beijing, as noted, and one
print with a small marginal tear, but otherwise in very good condition. The spectacular and extremely rare first edition of views of
Emperor Qianlong’s conquest of Jinchuan, the second series of his conquest prints and the first to be produced in China.
P. ten-Doesschate Chu & Ning Ding, eds., Qing encounters: artistic exchanges between China and the West, p. 134; W. Fuchs, in: Monumenta Serica IV (1939–
40), p. 122; cf. Cordier, Sinica, cols. 641–642 ; Löwendahl, China illustrata nova 653; Walravens, China illustrata 177.

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 First French edition of the most important work on China of the 17th century
219. R IC C I, Matteo and Nicolas T R IG AU LT. Histoire de
l’expedition Chrestienne au royaume de la Chine, entreprinse par les
PP. de la compagnie de Iesus.
Lyons, for Horace Cardon, 1616. 8º. With engraved title-page and
full-page engraved portrait of prince Philippe Guillaume of Orange,
and large folding plan (42.5 × 15 cm). Contemporary overlapping
vellum. € 25 000

The first French edition of “the most influential description of China to appear
during the first half of the 17th century” (Hanotiau). Ricci, an Italian Jesuit
missionary, arrived in China in 1582. Adopting Chinese dress and learning
the language, he succeeded where other missionaries had failed. He served in
Nanchang, Nanking, and received permission to establish a missionary post
in Beijing in 1610. During these years, he kept a journal which presented the
history of Jesuit mission in China from its beginning in 1582 to 1610, the year of
his death. This manuscript was translated from the Italian into Latin by Ricci’s
successor Trigault, who tried to elicit support for the mission in China. Trigault,
however, changed many passages of Ricci’s journal and augmented it with infor-
mation based on several Portuguese reports. “The resulting volume contains not
only a history of the Jesuit mission but also includes a wealth of information
about China in the chapters describing Chinese geography, people, laws, govern-
ment, religion, learning, commerce and the like” (Hanotiau).
The present French translation was made by Trigault’s nephew, Riquebourg-
Trigault, the physician of Philip William of Orange, to whom he dedicated the
work. A second French edition was published in 1617.
Binding rubbed; folding plan with clean tear and slightly wrinkled; some occasional staining. Good copy.
De Backer & Sommervogel VIII, col. 240; Cordier, Sinica, col. 810; Löwendahl 58; Lust 839; cf. Hanotiau 14 (2nd French edition).

A complete composition signed in full

220. S C H U BE RT, Franz, composer (1797–1828). [Waltz in G major, D. 844]. Autograph musical manuscript
signed (“Franz Schubert mpria”).
No place, 16 April 1825. 1 p. Oblong 8º (108 × 181 mm). € 185 000

The complete Waltz in G Major for piano (D. 844, “Albumblatt”): 17 bars for piano, written in the album of Miss Anna Hönig, later
Mrs. Mayerhofer von Grünbühel (in which same album the painter Moritz von Schwind, Schubert’s friend, penned another piece on
7 August 1827).
In pristine condition; accompanied by a fine engraving
of the composer. Provenance: Xaver Mayerhofer von
Grünbühel, Völkermarkt (Carinthia); Colonel Hauger,
Grünbühel; later in the collection of Gustav Mahler,
who presented it to Rudolf F. Kallir. While the present
original was considered lost by Deutsch, a photocopy is
kept at the SPK Berlin (N. Mus. Nachl. 10,126. Brown,
Ms. 57), and the Nachlass of Ludwig von Köchel
is known to have contained a now-lost manuscript
copy which at one time was kept in the archive of the
Gesellschaft der Musikfreude, Vienna.
While autograph manuscript music by Schubert taken
from the composer’s sketchbooks does occasionally
appear at auction, complete compositions signed in
full are virtually non-existent. Includes etched portrait
signed (ca. 15 × 19 cm) by the Dresden engraver Waldemar Pech (b. 1911).
Deutsch 844 (“ lost”). NGA VII/2, 6. First published: Alte Gesamtausgabe (1897) XXI, 31; published again: Max Friedlaender, Funde und Forschungen. Eine
Festgabe für Julius Wahle zum 15. Februar 1921 (Leipzig 1921), p. 11f. Reproduced in: R. F. Kallir, Autographensammler – lebenslänglich (Zürich 1977), p. 111
(illustration).

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 Woodcut Chinese translation (transcribed in the Latin alphabet) of a famous children’s book
221. [SH E RWO OD, Mary Martha (Caroline Phebe K E I T H, translator)]. [Title in running heads:] Hang-
le zaeh-lok. [= Hengli shilu (“A record of Henry”, a translation of The history of little Henry and his bearer)].
[Shanghai, Mission Press, 1856]. 8º (23.5 × 14 cm). With each page printed from a separate woodblock on the outside
of double leaves of Chinese paper (with their folds at the fore-edge). Original brown Chinese paper wrappers without
a spine. € 16 500

Extremely rare Chinese woodblock edition of Mary Martha

Sherwood’s Little Henry and his bearer, first published in English
in 1814, with the Chinese transcribed phonetically using the Latin
alphabet following the Shanghai dialect (with occasional Hindustani
words). It was translated into the Shanghai dialect by the Shanghai
missionary Caroline Phebe Keith (1821–1862). Keith (née Tenney)
came from a New Hampshire family. Her parents died when she was
16 and 17. In 1849, soon after her fiancée abandoned her, she decided
to become a missionary, serving in Shanghai from 1850 to 1857. The
book ‘’tells the story of a young British boy who, on his deathbed,
converts Boosy, the Indian man who has taken care of him through-
out his childhood ... Sherwood’s tale blends the realistic with the
sentimental and introduces her readers to Hindustani words and
descriptions of what she felt was authentic Indian life. With this
work, the obituary tract (which invariably stressed conversion and a
Christian death) had assumed the colouring of romance’’ (Cutt).
The paper is slightly browned and in a few double leaves the head or
foot of the fore-edge fold has torn a centimetre or two, but the book
is otherwise in very good condition. The wrapper has a few small
and very minor tears and stains, there is a larger tear in the front
endleaf and the threads have come loose and are partly lost. A very
rare Chinese translation of a famous children’s book in a Latin-alphabet transcription.
M.N. Cutt, Mrs. Sherwood and her books for children (1974), pp. 17–18; Hanan, Chinese fiction (2004), p. 74; KVK & WorldCat (1 copy).

14 Chinese colour drawings on pith paper, showing 72 fish and seashells, some in metallic colours
222. [S U NQUA ?]. [C H I N E S E F I SH A N D S E A SH E L L S].
[Guangzhen (Canton)?, Sunqua?, ca. 1845/55?]. Oblong 2º album (26.5 × 34.5 cm). 14 drawings depicting 72 fish and
seashells in coloured gouaches, the fish with gold and silver speckles to give a metallic effect to the scales, executed
on pith paper (18 × 29 cm), framed with 4 strips of blue silk, and with a loose tissue leaf inserted before each drawing.
Contemporary boards, covered with yellow-green silk. Sold
Fourteen beautifully executed Chinese drawings
showing 25 fish (including 1 eel) and 47 seashells,
in coloured gouaches with gold and silver
speckles to render the metallic lustre of the scales,
drawn on pith paper (sometimes confusingly
called “rice paper”). They show a consistent style
and were clearly produced as a series. The first 8
leaves contain fish, with 2 to 6 specimens in each
drawing; the last 6 contain sea shells, with 6 to 10
specimens in each drawing. In at least most cases,
each specimen represents a different species. The
fish include a catfish and an eel. The seashells
include whelks and conchs, cowrie, clams, snails
(many with spectacular spiral cones) and bi-valves
with a wide variety of exotic-looking protru-
sions. The drawings are simple renditions of the
specimens, without background scenes or plants,

116
but depicted with considerable detail, so that it would not be difficult to identify the species. This simplicity might suggest the fairly
early work of Sunqua rather than Tingqua, but the dearth of well-documented examples makes the ascription tentative.
Chinese artists seem to have begun making coloured gouache drawings on pith paper in the 1820s, but the genre flourished after China’s
defeat in the First Opium War opened the country to foreign trade. Most were produced in the port city Guangzhen (Canton province),
where the leading artists Sunqua and Tingqua established their studios. They mixed Chinese and Western styles, the present seashells having
Western-style shadows with the light coming from above (and mostly slightly to the left). They catered largely to the new export market.
One drawing has a crack running into the largest fish and 2 or 3 others have significant marginal cracks or tears, but the drawings are
otherwise in very good condition and the colours remain fresh and bright (they are sensitive to sunlight, so most examples outside of
albums have faded). The album binding is also very good. A lovely series of large, coloured Chinese fish drawings, interesting both as
art and as examples of Chinese ichthyology soon after China opened its doors to Western scholars.
For pith paintings in general: B. Salmen, Chinesische Bilder (2007); I. Williams, “Views from the West”, in: Arts of Asia XXXI (2001), pp. 140–149; I. Williams,
“Painters on pith”, in: Arts of Asia XXXIII (2003), pp. 56–66.

Confucianism and religion in China, by the Jesuit advisor to the Kangxi Emperor
223. T HOM A S , Antoine, the K A NG X I E M PE ROR and others. Brevis
relatio eorum, quae spectant ad declarationem Sinarum Imperatoris KamHi circa
caeli, Cumfucii, et avorum cultum, datam anno 1700. ...
Augsburg and Dillingen, Johann Kaspar Bencard, 1703. Small 8º (15.5 × 9 cm).
Contemporary sheepskin parchment. € 3750

Rare first European edition, in the original Latin, of a Jesuit work on the religious and
cultural circumstances in China under the Kangxi (here KamHi) Emperor (1654–1722),
including the Emperor’s edict of tolerance toward Christians and the controversial Jesuit
arguement that Confucian rites and veneration of ancestors were non-religious and therefore
compatible with Christianity. Although the title-page gives no author’s name, the text is
signed at the end by the principal author Antoine Thomas (1644–1709), Jesuit advisor to the
Emperor, together with nine other Jesuits.
With owner’s stamp and a bookplate of Baron Horace de Landau (1824–1903). With the title-
page very slightly slurred during printing and its lower outside corner torn off, but otherwise
in very good condition, with only an occasional spot. Mice have nibbled away some of the
parchment, but they fortunately decided not to sample the paperboards or paper, and the
binding is otherwise good.
Cordier, Sinica, cols. 893–894; De Backer & Sommervogel VII, col. 1978 (Thomas 12 note); WorldCat (9 copies).

Russian mission to China, with a plan of Beijing

224. T I M KOW S K I, Egor Fedorovitch. Voyage à Peking, à travers la
Mongolie en 1820 et 1821.
Paris, Dondey-Dupré père et Fils, 1827. 2 text volumes (8º) and one atlas
volume (folio). With lithographed title-page, 3 lithographed maps and plans, 8
lithographed plates with copies after Chinese and other drawings. Text volumes
in contemporary half calf and atlas in original brown wrappers. € 4500

First French edition of Timkowski’s account of his mission to Beijing via Mongolia (1820–
1821), revised by J.B. Eyriès and corrected and annotated by the distinguished sinologist
Heinrich Julius Klaproth. The narrative elaborates on the country of the Kalkas, the desert
of Gobi, the territory of the Sounite Mongols, Beijing, dress and laws of the Chinese,
conversations with Catholic Missionaries, Turkestan, Little Bucharia, the country of the
Soungarians, Tibet, the Chinese army, the manners and customs of the inhabitants, the
geography and ethnography of Mongolia and the country of the Tsakhars. It includes a
plan of Beijing.
Fine set.
Cordier, Sinica 2473–2474; Löwendahl 853; Lust 551.

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12 stunning and detailed drawings of Chinese deities, in many bright colours plus gold and silver
225. T I NG QUA . [T W E LV E C H I N E S E G OD S].
[Guangzhen (Canton)], Tingqua, [ca. 1870?]. Imperial 4º album (33 × 24.5 cm). 12 drawings in numerous brightly
coloured gouaches plus gold and silver, on pith paper (30 × 21.5 cm), each drawing mounted by its corners in an
album of mulberry-bark(?) paper and framed with 4 strips of blue silk, and with a loose tissue leaf inserted before
each drawing and an extra blank album leaf before the first drawing. Contemporary rice-straw(?) pasteboards, with
the contemporary “Tingqua” label. € 38 000

Twelve spectacular and extremely detailed Chinese drawings of

Chinese deities, executed in dozens of brightly coloured gouaches
plus gold and silver by the Tingqua studio, established in Guangzhen
(Canton province) in the 1830s. Tingqua, also known as Guam
Lianchang (ca. 1809–1870 or soon after) was the leading artist in
the export business that flourished after China’s defeat in the First
Opium War (1839–1842) opened the country to foreign trade. He and
his slightly older contemporary Sunqua (active 1830–1870) pioneered
the genre of pith paintings for the export market. The drawings
show considerable originality in the rendition of the deities and their
attributes, which sometimes makes it difficult to identify the deity
intended. As usual with pith-paper drawings made for export, they
show a mix of Chinese and Western influences, the faces here clearly
following Western art (Tingqua was a protégé of George Chinnery),
but the present drawings may also show some Tibetan influences.
Since pith-paper drawings were rarely signed, few can be attrib-
uted to an artist or studio on documentary evidence. The present
set is a rare example of a group of drawings (clearly made as a set)
preserved in its contemporary album with the Tingqua studio’s
label. The figures are much more detailed than those in most
pith-paper drawings.
Several drawings show one or more broken corners or other small
marginal defects, and sometimes an end of one of the blue ribbons
has come loose, but the drawings themselves are in fine condition.
The paper reinforcing the spine has torn at the hinges and the lower
right corner of the front board is abraded, but the album binding is
still in very good condition. A remarkable series of large, brightly
coloured and unusually detailed pith-paper drawings of Chinese
gods: rare documented drawings of the famous Tingqua studio, with
their letterpress label.
Cf. B. Salmen, Chinesische Bilder (2007); Tingqua: paintings from his studio
(1976); I. Williams, “Views from the West”, in: Arts of Asia XXXI (2001), pp.
140–149; I. Williams, “Painters on pith”, in: Arts of Asia XXXIII (2003), pp. 56–66.

118