2 951 résultats
200 x 120 mm.
Folio (216 x 342 mm). 12 parts in one volume. (4), 23; (2), II, 30; (4), 19, (1); (4), 23, (1); (4), 19, (1); (4), 12; (4), 12; (4), 20; (4), 22; (4), 15, (1); (4), 23, (1); (4), 10 pp. Printed in single columns with blank space left at inner margins for notes. Half sheep over red cloth boards, rebacked, gilt-lettered spine. A full year's worth of confidential memoranda issued by Edward Henry Scamander Clarke (1856-1947), Deputy Secretary to the Government of India, providing a detailed picture of British relations in Arabia and Asia throughout 1911. The memoranda encompass Arabia (including Aden, Baghdad, Kuwait, Muscat, Bahrain, the Gulf, and the Trucial Coast), Tibet, Bhutan, Assam, and Burma. The numerous and frequently extensive paragraphs dedicated to the "Arabian littoral of the Persian Gulf" not only discuss problems of charting and navigating the coastal waters, but also focus on defending British commercial interests in the region at a moment when the international trade was scrambling to access the Arabian pearl banks, while at the same time British authority was taking a dramatic plunge in the aftermath of the notorious "Dubai Incident" of 24 December 1910, a botched gun raid operation that led to rising tensions between Britain and the people of the Trucial Coast. Items include notes on the desire of the "Wahabi Amir of Nejd", Abdulaziz ibn Saud, to "come into closer relations with His Majesty's Government"; proposed hydrographical surveys of possible approaches to Kuwait and Bahrain; a proposed enquiry into the causes of the depletion of the pearl banks in the Gulf, and the possible attitude of the local Arab tribes as well as foreign agents in the area; an investigation into possible business residences of Rosenthal Frères in Dubai and Bahrain, and the question of British firms entering into the local pearling business; a proposal to secure written assurances from the Sheikhs of the Gulf not to extend pearl fishing concessions to foreigners; policy differences between Britain and the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Butti bin Suhail Al Maktoum; piracy committed on a Dubai boat; the proposed establishment of British banks at certain port town along the Gulf coast; a discussion of the need for a treaty with the Qatar Sheikhs; the "question of the sovereignty over Katar"; the cancellation by the Sheikh of Sharjah of an excavation concession granted on Abu Musa island; the replacement of lost light buoys off the Arabian Gulf coast; negotiations with Turkey over territorial differences; Kuwait and the Baghdad Railway; and the Ottoman occupation of Jazirat az Zakhnuniyah (off the Saudi Arabian coast, between Bahrain and Qatar). - Further sections discuss treaties and trade agreements; expeditions and scientific missions; irrigation, shipping and railways, telegraph and postal networks, trade; arms trafficking; disturbances and risings; and British relations with Turkey and China. Also covered are the murder of Noel Williamson, assistant political officer, Sadiya, and his party in the Panga Hills, Assam, and the subsequent Abor Expedition; the Chinese Revolution of 1911 (Xinhai Revolution) and its impact in Tibet and Burma; and the Italo-Turkish War. - A few marks to text. Binding rubbed and marked at extremeties, spine recently rebacked. Extremely rare: no copy traceable in library catalogues internationally.
4to. 15 pp., final blank. Unsewn pamphlet. Rare Portuguese report of the 1790 Siege of Izmail during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-92, which resulted in the sacking of the fortress of Izmail (in the region of Budjak, now Ukraine). The capture of this stronghold, considered impregnable, was seen as a catastrophe in the Ottoman Empire, while in Russia it was glorified in the country's first national anthem "Let the thunder of victory sound!". The Russians began besieging the city in March 1790 and started attacking in December, leading to a bloody battle of 22 December. Ottoman forces suffered more than 26,000 killed, and many others were wounded or captured. The account mentions prominent historical figures, including the Russian general Alexander Suvorov (1730-1800) and the Spanish admiral José de Ribas (1749-1800). - With small marginal flaws not affecting text. Rare; only two copies traced in library catalogues internationally (Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal; New York University). Dupuy & Dupuy, Encyclopedia of Military History (2nd ed.), 698. BGUC Misc., 514.
4to. 20, (3) pp., final blank page. With a woodcut illustration. - (Bound with) II: The same. Oran conquistado, e defendido, relaçam historica [...] Parte II. Ibid., 1733. 16 pp. Later full vellum. First editions. Both separately published parts of this rare work on the Spanish expedition against Muslim Oran. After a survey of the history and geography of Oran (in modern Algeria), the author describes the preparations for the expedition to recapture the city, enumerates the Spanish leaders, and gives details of the Spanish naval and military attacks on sites in and around Oran in June and July 1732. The captain-general of the expedition was José Carrillo de Albornoz, first Duke of Montemar, who had fought in the War of the Spanish Succession and the War of the Quadruple Alliance; at this time he was viceroy of Sicily. Facing p. 20 is the plan of battle for the Spanish forces. The woodcut on the verso shows the harbour at Oran, the town, and the half-dozen fortresses surrounding it, as well as the position of the Spanish navy during the battle. The final leaf has the key to the map on its recto, with the verso blank. Freire de Monterroyo Mascarenhas explains in the dedication that he compiled this account from many shorter ones, because the public was eager to learn about the reconquest. Oran, which was in Spanish hands since 1509, had been captured by the Turks in 1708, while Spain was preoccupied with the War of the Spanish Succession. Spain then held the city from 1732 until 1792, when it suffered a massively destructive earthquake and King Charles IV handed the city back to the Ottoman Empire. - First part uncut. Second part slightly wormed near the gutter. Occasional light brownstaining. The two parts are very rarely encountered together. Inocêncio IV, 348. Barbosa Machado II, 856. BGUC Misc. 3, 80.
4to. 14 pp., final blank leaf. Two printed sheet folded into a pamphlet, unsewn and unbound. Very rare Portuguese account of one of several unsuccessful 18th century attempts by Muslim forces to recapture Oran. Translated by Manuel Pedro Tomás Pinheiro e Aragão (1773-1838), describing the events of May and June 1791. From 1790 to 1792, Muslim forces, led by Mohamed El-Kebir (d. 1796), besieged Oran and Mers el-Kebir, which were in Spanish hands since 1732. Both cities would be returned to the Ottoman Empire after a massively destructive earthquake in 1792. - First page somewhat spotty. Uncut and untrimmed. BGUC Misc. 24, 508. OCLC 56569516.
4to. 8 pp. With woodcut title vignette. Printed sheet folded into a pamphlet, unsewn and unbound. Rare Portuguese account of one of several unsuccessful 18th century attempts by Muslim forces to recapture Oran. This operation took place in March of 1754, more than two decades after the Spanish conquest of the city in 1732. Oran was repeatedly attacked by Algerian and Ottoman forces, but remained under Spanish rule until 1792. - Uncut and untrimmed. BGUC Misc. 24, 459. OCLC 27754498.
4to. 8 pp. With woodcut title vignette. Printed sheet folded into a pamphlet, unsewn and unbound. Rare Portuguese account of one of several unsuccessful 18th century attempts by Muslim forces to recapture Oran. This operation took place in March and April of 1759, nearly three decades after the Spanish conquest of the city in 1732. Oran was repeatedly attacked by Algerian and Ottoman forces, but remained under Spanish rule until 1792. The report concludes with a table showing the numbers of cannonballs, shells and bullets fired in the battle. - Light browning; folds weakeend; uncut and untrimmed. Only seven copies traced in library catalogues internationally. A rare historical source on an otherwise poorly documented military campaign. BGUC Misc., 7835. OCLC 504039661.
8vo. V, (1), 117, (1) pp. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Very rare study of Constantinople's plague epidemic of the year 1778, by an anonymous eyewitness. Though not himself a medical man (as he confesses in the preface), he feels that most of Europe's learned physicians lack a practical understanding of the illness, for which reason he here sets out his own experiences in writing. - Only six copies in libraries worldwide, mostly in specialized medical research institutions (Wellcome, Institut Pasteur, New York Academy of Medicine, National Library of Medicine etc.). - Binding rubbed and chipped in places, but a very good copy. Wellcome II, 446. Blake 114.
Oblong 8vo (150 x 105 mm). Leporello booklet of 12 glossy lithographed plates and two folding lithographed colour maps. Contemporary red cloth with blindstamped cover borders and giltstamped title to upper cover. A panorama of Constantinople on 10 consecutive plates (altogether ca. 1450 x 95 mm); two additional plates show views of the Hagia Sophia (then a mosque) and the fountain in the Yeni Cami (New Mosque). Important sights, buildings, bridges and districts are labelled in the panoramic view of Constantinople. The maps are titled "Plan von Constantinopel mit den Vorstädten, dem Hafen und einem Theil des Bosporus" and "Constantinopel und der Bosporus. Reduction nach der Aufnahme des Freiherrn v. Moltke auf 1/4 der Grösse des Originals. Maasstab 1:100.000". - Binding slightly rubbed.
Six works bound in one volume. 8vo. 67, (1); IV, 226; 8; 3, (1); 3, (1); 3, (1) pp. 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. 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.
8vo. (4), VIII, 222, (2) pp. Remains of original grey temporary wrappers. Stored in gilt modern quarter morocco box. First edition of this fundamental study of Wahhabism, not translated into Arabic until 2005 ("Tarih al-wahhabiyin mundu naš'atihim hatta 'am 1809 m.", published in Riyadh by Darat al-Malik 'Abd-al-'Aziz). Corancez had lived in Aleppo for eight years as French consul. He married a Syrian and had first-hand information about the Wahhabi movement in Egypt, Syria, and Baghdad. He published his book soon after the followers of the Moslem reformer Abd-el Wahhab conquered the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in 1805, an event that fueled a strong interest in the movement throughout Europe. "This sect, which abhorred all loose living, attracted the attention of a number of travellers. Corancez' account of the Wahabis precedes by many years that of Burckhardt, which was published posthumously in 1830, although both men were living and travelling in Syria at the same time, and presumably knew each other" (Atabey). As Burrell comments, "the final merits - and challenges - of this book are [... that] Corancez was prepared to reflect upon a range of issues which remain relevant and controversial, for many people in the Middle East today. These include the nature of Islam and its apparent resistance to self-doubt and the challenge of change, the complex attitude adopted by Muslims to Christians and Jews, the status of the Prophet Mohammed within Islam, the reasons for the enduring nature of despotic rule in the Middle East, the significance of the different status afforded men and women [...]". - Includes the sometimes-lacking errata final leaf. Slight brownstaining as common; untrimmed as issued with the publisher's temporary grey-blue wrapper largely preserved. Spine chipped; upper cover frayed and partly pasted to half-title. The Atabey copy (in contemporary half morocco) sold for £3,800 at Sotheby's in 2002. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 750. Atabey 282. Gay 3461. Quérard I, 143. Not in Blackmer.
4to (168 x 212 mm). 8 watercolour drawings, some heightened with white or gold, captioned in German in a late 16th-c. hand, on 8 leaves and a further 24 blank leaves (for the watermark cf. Briquet 917: Nuremberg 1554 or 1565-82). Contemporary limp vellum without ties. An album of eight splendid costume paintings, by a talented, unidentified artist who may have been a member of the entourage of a German ambassador to the Porte. The subjects in this collection are captioned: "Der Kriechen Patriarch" (the Greek Patriarch); "Der Türckisch Keiser" (the Turkish Sultan); "Der Türckisch Babst" (the Grand Mufti); "Türckische weiber wie sie pflegen auf der gaßen zu gehen" (Turkish women, as it is their wont to dress in the street); "Also sizen die Türckischen weiber" (Thus sit the Turkish women); "Ein Epirotische frau wie sie in Iren Heusern zu Galata pflegen zu gehen" (a woman of Epirus, as they walk about in their houses in Galata); "Ein Kriegische fraw" (a Greek woman); and "Ein Armenerin" (an Armenian woman). - Great attention to both accuracy and details is shown: indeed, the suite may be related to another set of similar drawings in the Gennadius Library (A896 B), dated to about 1573 (cf. Blackmer Cat.). There is also some resemblance in style and presentation to certain of the costume illustrations in Nicolas de Nicolay's Navigations (1568, and later editions). Although Nicolay travelled in the Levant in the 1550s and was long thought to have drawn his costume subjects from life, doubt has been cast on this view, and it is now generally considered that he drew his subjects from the work of other artists and illustrators. - A little light dust-soiling, binding with minor wear, soiling and wormholes. Provenance: from the collection of Ferdinand Sigismund Kress von Kressenstein (1641-1704), councilman of Nuremberg whose father signed the Peace of Westphalia treaty (his armorial bookplate on the front pastedown). Later in the library of Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein (1906-89), with his armorial bookplate on the flyleaf. Latterly in the collection of Henry Myron Blackmer II (1923-88), with his bookplate to the pastedown, sold at Sotheby's in 1989 (Blackmer sale, lot 80) and purchased by Herry W. Schaefer (1934-2016). Blackmer 1887 (with two illustrations: p. 42 and frontispiece facing p. 1). Cf. Haydn Williams, "Additional printed sources for Ligozzi's series of figures of the Ottoman Empire", in: Master Drawings, vol. 51, no. 2 [Summer 2013], pp. 195-220; Metin And, Istanbul in the 16th century: the city, the palace, daily life (Istanbul, 1994).
Folio (214 x 342 mm). 3 vols. bound in one. (4), 120 (instead of 124) pp. (2), 142 pp. 172, (4) pp. Two title pages printed in red and black. With a total of 97 (instead of 98) half-page woodcuts in the text. Period style dark brown calf, elaborately gilt decorated spine and boards, red morocco spine label, raised bands, marbled endpapers. First editions of three separately issued parts of the very scarce "newly-opened amphitheatre", comprising the America, Asia, and Turkey volumes. The exceptional large woodcuts show the native inhabitants of the various parts of the world. Of special interest is the rare volume dedicated only to Ottoman society, as well as that on Asia: together, they cover the Islamic countries of the early modern period, including details on the Arabian Peninsula. Among the illustrations are various Muslim clerics, Northern Arabians and desert Arabians in Bedouin costume, coffee salesmen, sweetmeats salesmen, and a Turkish gentleman carrying the Qur'an on his head, as well as Persians, the Sultan, Janissaries, archers, dancers, etc. The Asia volume, produced later, repeats a single illustration but contains much new matter on Arabia, including a discussion of the Muslim religion, the Qur'an, ablutions performed with sand, and the trade in incense, coffee, and spices, as well as pearl fishing in Bahrain (p. 54). The America volume covers the discovery and exploration of America, with woodcut illustrations including portraits of Columbus, Vespucci, Magellan, and 30 depictions of Native Americans from throughout the New World, including Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, Maryland, etc. - This present set omits the parts on Europe and Africa, which were published first, and thus contains parts 3 (America) and 4 (Asia) of the four-part "Neu-eröffnetes Amphitheatrum" (the final part of which was produced only after a five-year hiatus), along with the "Neu-eröffnetes Amphitheatrum Turcicum", separately issued in 1723, from which the 1728 volume on Asia drew freely. Severely browned throughout due to paper. Title page of "America" vol. remargined; edge-wear to first and last few leaves only; wants quire G (pp. 25-28, including one illustration). Quire K in "Turkey" vol. (pp. 37-40) with expert paper repairs. In a highly appealing modern binding. Lipperheide Ac 5. Colas 2187. Hiler 652. Sabin 52360. Palmer 364. Not in Atabey or Blackmer. Not in Hünersdorff (Coffee).
4to. 24, (2) pp. With woodcut printer's device to t. p. 18th century marbled wrappers. Rare second Italian edition (published a year after the almost unobtainable first Turin printing) of this historically important account of the events of the Battle of Szigetvár, fought between the Turkish and the Habsburgian forces. The final page treats the number of Turkish soldiers killed in the battle. - On 8 September 1566, after a month-long siege, the Ottoman army captured the fortress of Szigetvár and beheaded the defender, Miklós Zrínyi; more than 20,000 soldiers died. Shortly before the decisive battle, Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, who personally led the campaign, died of old age after a reign of 46 years - the longest in Ottoman history. In spite of the Turkish victory, the death of their leader, the heavy losses suffered during the siege, and an early winter caused the Ottoman army to withdraw to Istanbul. Only in 1689 did the Hungarians re-capture the city. - The first edition ("Historia Sigheti") was published in Latin by Caspar Stainhofer in Vienna in 1568. It was purportedly a translation from the Croat language, prepared by Samuel Budina (cf. Apponyi 422). The supposed author, Fran Crnka (Ferenc Czerno), was Zrínyi's surviving chamberlain. According to Göllner, the actual author (though more likely, the editor) may have been Alfonso de Ulloa (d. 1580), who also published "Commentari della Guerra" and "Historie di Europa", both appearing at Zaltieri's press in the same year as the present work. - Extremely rare; a single copy at auctions internationally since 1950. Edit 16, CNCE 13812. Apponyi 439. Göllner 1270. BM-STC Italian 652. Hammer 761. Szabó 603. Ballagi 718. Hubay 277. OCLC 64419121. Not in Adams.
8vo. (4), 74, (2) pp. With 27 (17 folding) engr. plates and folding engr. map. Contemp. vellum (wants ties). One of several descriptions of the Mediterranean published by Enderlin. Includes reports of Constantinople, Moscow, and Kiev as well as the islands of Cyprus, Crete, and the Crimean. The plates show views of Candia, Canea, Famagusta, Kaminiek and Constantinople, as well as plants and animals. - Index to illustrations cropped and mounted on reverse of title. Some browning and brownstaining. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. VD 17, 23:279658Z. Blackmer 1303. Cf. Atabey 402.
Folio (210 x 330 mm). 5 pp. on 5 ff. French draft of the historic business deal between Britain and Persia that would initiate the era of oil in the Middle East. - The chain of events leading to Persia entering the international oil scene began with Antoine Ketabci Khan, the Persian commissioner general at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. Ketabci Khan, of Armenian descent, had held several posts in the Persian government, including the directorship of the customs service. Although the ostensible reason for Ketabci’s visit was the opening of the Paris Exhibition, his main purpose was to find an investor in Europe willing to take up the petroleum concession in Persia. In Paris, Ketabci sought the aid of Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, formerly (1887-90) the British minister in Tehran, who suggested William Knox D’Arcy, an English entrepreneur and financier who had made a fortune in gold mining in Australia and was eager to examine the proposition. On 28 May 1901 the prodigal Mozaffar-al-Din Shah granted D’Arcy an oil concession valid for sixty years, with exclusive rights to oil exploration in the entire country apart from the five northern provinces of Azerbaijan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Astarabad, and Khorasan. These provinces were excluded to avoid offending Russia, which regarded the northern part of Persia as its own sphere of influence, in the same way that Britain saw southern Persia as falling in its own orbit. In return, D’Arcy agreed to pay the Persian government twenty thousand pounds in cash, with another twenty thousand pounds worth of shares, as well as an annual royalty which was defined somewhat vaguely as equal to 16 percent of “annual net profits”. - Small rust stains to first leaf; slightly creased.
Italian manuscript on vellum (445 x 160 mm). Written space ca. 270 x 140 mm. In a fine cursive handwriting by two hands. Written by a notary public of the Much Serene Republic of Venice: a statement of debt for 3,300 ducats owed to the main commissioner of Venice by the gentleman Francesco Marcello, for the collection of custom taxes in Damascus. The creditor renounces all other claims, and the debt is to be paid in annual instalments of 300 ducats, beginning the year following the drafting of this document, but after a deposit has been paid the following month: "Parendo debitor ser Thadio Polo del Cothimo de Damasco et general de la soria de certa suma de denari, de i qual ser Francesco Marcello se ne chiama piezo: et per i magnifici siori de le raxon vechie el fo sententiando volontarie in ducati tremillia et trexento per parte. Et perchè per le grande sue adversità come publicamente ognuno intende, non è possibele che senza qualche axeveleza el possi pagar et essendo visto et cognossudo questo per li comessi del dicto Cothimo, misier Francesco Falier, misser Zuan Bembo et misser Benedeto Sanudo, azoché scorando el tempo senza qualche conclusion de haverse con qualche habilità a pagar per nome del dicto Cothimo sono venuti a questa ultima conclusion et acordo chel dicto ser Francesco se chiama come piezo debitor per resto de tute raxon de Cothimo, et de le uxure seguide computando la sententia tolta ut supra de ducati tremillia et trexento da esser pagadi per el dicto ser Francesco ducati trexento alanno et sia obligato dar bona et sufficiente piezarìa over caution de paga in paga. Et comenza el tempo anno uno da poi concluso tal acordo: et die mexe uno da poi tal acordo dar dicta piezarìa over caution, et cussi de paga in paga fin integra satisfatction havendoli isoproducti per nome del Cothimo a pregar Carta de Segurtà de non li haver ni poder altro domandar [...]". Immediately underneath this statement is a confirmation by the Damascus consul, ser Giovanni Mocenigo, of the obligation to pay the sum of 3,300 ducats in 11 annual instalments, by the Venetian gentleman Francesco Marcello and his son. - A remarkable early Renaissance document concerning a legal agreement set up by the three commissioners of the council of the Venetian court known as "Quarantia Civil Vecchia", commissioned to oversee the correct collection of the customs tax which was to be paid by merchants on goods imported from or exported to Egypt and Syria. - Perfectly preserved.
Folio (220 x 332 mm). (8), 556, (12) pp. With engraved frontispiece, 3 double-page-sized engraved maps, 20 engraved plates (13 double-page-sized, 1 folding), and 8 engravings in the text. Contemp. calf with gilt spine. First German edition of Dapper's description of the Middle East, including Mesopotamia or Algizira, Assyria, and Anatolia; the second part is entirely devoted to Arabia. Dapper's work is of special importance for its original and new information on Islam, Arab science, astronomy, philosophy, and historiography, as well as for its illustrations. "Dr. Olfert Dapper (1636-1689), physician, geographical and historical scholar, was the author of a series of works dealing with Africa, America and Asia. The fine plates [...] are after a number of mapmakers and artists, including Christiaan van Adrichom, Juan Bautista Villalpando and Wenzel Hollar among others" (Blackmer). Includes accounts of Mecca (with a description of the Hajj), Jeddah, Medina, Sana'a, etc. The engravings show costumes, religious rites, specimens of local flora, views, etc., including Aden, Mocha, Maskat, Babylon, Baghdad, Ninive, Ephesus, and Smyrna (re-engraved from the Dutch original edition). - Old repair to view of the Tower of Babylon (slight loss to image). Engraved armorial bookplate "ex Bibliotheca Blomiana" to pastedown. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. VD 17, 39:133144U. STC D 200. Blackmer 450. Tiele 300 (note).
A total of 36 vols.: 26 text vols. (4to) and 10 atlas vols. (elephant folio). With coloured frontispiece and 899 engraved plates and maps, many double-page-sized and folded. Slightly later English half calf, professionally repaired in places. Second edition of this monumental work (the first was published from 1809 onwards), the first comprehensive description of ancient and modern Egypt. Commissioned by Napoleon during his Egyptian campaign between 1798 and 1801, this encompassing historical, archaeological, art-historical, and natural-historical account of the country was realised through the efforts of the Institut d'Egypte in Cairo. Its influence was enormous, establishing Egyptology as an intellectual discipline and nurturing a passion for Egyptian art throughout the Western world. Edited by some of the leading intellectual figures in France, the Description also includes contributions from celebrated artists such as Jacques Barraband, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, Jules-César Savigny and others. More than 150 scholars and scientists and some 2000 artists, designers and engravers were involved in its preparation. The success of the publication was such that work on the second edition (known as the "Pancoucke edition") began before the first was completed. The text was expanded into a greater number of volumes, now printed in a smaller format; new pulls were taken from the plates, and these were bound with many of the large-format plates folded into the new, reduced dimensions. - A splendid, clean copy, complete with all the plates. An incomplete copy of the second edition of the Description de l'Egypte sold at Sotheby's for £68,750 in 2016. Blackmer 526. Gay 1999. Brunet II, 617. Graesse II, 366. Cf. Monglond VIII, 268-343 (for the first edition). Nissen, BBI 2234. Nissen, ZBI 4608. Heritage Library, Islamic Treasures, s. v. "Art" (illustration).
Elephant folio (685 x 510 mm). 2 plate volumes. [Antiquities volume]: Half-title, title for Histoire Naturelle [!], list of artists (mounted). 92 large engraved plates, maps, and plans, including 2 colour, 9 double page, and a few folding, numbered 1-97 (lacking plates 15, 18, 49, 79, 87). - [Etat Moderne]: Half-title, title, list of artists (all trimmed and mounted). 57 engraved plates and maps, including 2 double page. 19th century green half morocco, spines gilt. All edges gilt. From the first comprehensive description of ancient and modern Egypt. Two plate volumes from the 23-volume series produced by the commission of scholars and artists that accompanied Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in 1798-1801. The complete set comprises 10 text and 13 plate volumes, divided into "Antiquités", "Mémoires", "Histoire naturelle", "Etat moderne", and "Carte topographique", published between 1809 and 1828. The present volumes are something of an amalgam: the spine and title page of one indicate the first volume of plates for "Histoire Naturelle", but the 92 large plates within are from the first volume of "Antiquités", depicting architecture and ruins, monuments, tombs, artifacts, views, elevations, and maps from Philae, Eswan, Edfou, Esne, Koum Omobu, and elsewhere. The volume labeled "Etat Moderne" (with a corresponding title page) features a selection of plates from volumes 1 and 2 of "Etat Moderne", in addition to 21 plates from the first volume of "Histoire Naturelle", including 17 ichthyological plates as well as plates mineralogical and botanical. - Condition report for "Antiquités": all plates backed with new sheets, scattered foxing (significant to 2 or 3 plates) and a few pale dampstains, a few repaired tears and marginal restorations, lower third of plate 10 lacking, some restoration to spine. - "Etat Moderne": Plates trimmed at plate marks and mounted to elephant folio sheets, dampstaining throughout at upper right quarter, restoration to margins outside image of several plates, title page trimmed close at upper margin and worn at lower margin, plate 14 scuffed with loss of text, foxing throughout, staining to natural history plates, repairs to margins mostly outside of image of several plates. Blackmer 476. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 239. Gay 1999. Cf. Tobler p. 236 (citing the Carte Topographique only). Heritage Library, Islamic Treasures, s. v. "Art" (illlustration). Graesse II, 365.
(Oblong) 8vo. 2 folding billets. With 2 autograph envelopes. To Mrs. Honeycutt in Tulsa, Oklahoma, signed by Velma, Tommy and Pam. A birthday card with good wishes: "Sorry you are not well. Hope you will feel better soon. I sent a check [...]". - With illustrations featuring a camel caravan and a flower bouquet. Margins slightly creased.
4to. 8, (2) pp. With additional panegyrical matter: 2 ff., 2 single sheets. All with woodcut initials and headpieces. A set of French (and Latin) eulogies addressed to "Dominique Ottoman", or Osman, the son of Sultan Ibrahim I, who was captured with his mother by the Maltese fleet in 1644 and educated by the Knights of Malta to become a Dominican friar. As an adolescent he was baptized and adopted the name Dominique de Saint-Thomas on 23 February 1656. He studied in Naples and Rome and went to Paris in 1664, where he spent two years. In 1667 he travelled to Candia on Crete, a Venetian-ruled city besieged by Ottoman forces since 1648, on an unsuccessful mission to convince the latter to make peace. Appointed vicar general on Malta around 1669, he returned to the island, where he spent his final years. - Louis de Puch's formal address of 8 pages is followed by a 12-line madrigal on a separate leaf. This same madrigal is present as a broadside on another single sheet, as well as on the first of two conjoined additional leaves, the second of which contains a Latin elogy in praise of St. Dominicus (signed P[uch] L[odovicus]). Finally, a large quarto leaf (showing traces of folds) contains an unsigned French sonnet "Au serenissime prince Dominique Ottoman fils aisné du Sultan Ibrahim, religieux de l'Ordre de S. Dominique". - Occasional slight foxing and creasing. A rare ensemble. OCLC records Puch's encomium only at the French National Library, the University of Tübingen, and the University of Pennsylvania. OCLC 458209721.
8vo. XXIV, 213, (1) pp. With 2 folding engraved plates. Contemporary full mottled calf with giltstamped red morocco label to prettily gilt spine. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. First edition thus. Very rare French translation of two essays by the Scottish-born East India Company officer and orientalist Alexander Dow (1735-79), first published within his "History of Hindostan, translated from the Persian of Ferishta" (1768). The present edition omits the text of the world history of Firishta that Dow had presented in his book, giving only his "dissertation concerning the religion and philosophy of the Brahmins" as well as an outline of the then-current state of India, partly taken from Dow's preface. Contains two folding plates, engraved by P. L. Charpentier, showing the Sanskrit alphabet and the metre employed in the Vedas. Re-issued in 1780. - Early 19th century bookseller label of A. Claudin, Paris, pasted head-over-heels to lower pastedown. Binding very attractively preserved. Excepting the Sir Thomas Phillipps copy, sold at Sotheby's in 1977, this is the second copy known in trade records. Lanson III, 8161. OCLC 34570575.
Lithographic plate. 432 x 345 mm. A fine popular print depicting a dromedary running through the desert, mounted by an Arab.
8vo. 126 pp. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with giltstamped spine and blue morocco spine label. All edges marbled. Early account on the tribes of Egypt. A rare offprint from the "Déscription de l'Égypte", a compilation of the scientific results of Napoleon's Egyptian expedition published in 1809. The present work describes the main Bedouin tribes living in Egypt, including Tarabin, Néfahat, Ayaidi, Hannadi, Mahazi and Beni-Wassel. Also, it makes some observations on the noble Arabian horse, which is considered "more scarce in the deserts of Egypt than in those of the Hejaz and Syria". Prepared by Du Bois-Aymé (1779-1846), one of the leading scientists accompanying the expedition. - Rare variant edition (probably the first) with a slightly different title, also omitting the author's as well as the publisher's name from the title-page. Corners slightly bumped. Paper occasionally browned; light brownstaining near the end. Still a good copy. OCLC 742830325. Cf. Gay 2011; Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 194.