Markham, Gervase.MareMagnum
367 357 résultats
8 parts in one vol. Titles within wide woodcut borders and numerous woodcut illustrations throughout. Contemporary speckled calf, rebacked preserving original label on spine, 8vo. Second edition of this important manual of riding, breeding, hunting, farriery and veterinary matters (following the first of 1607), by one of the earliest western owners of and dealers in Arabian horses. Markham praises the virtues of Turkish and Barb horses, which are said to be "beyond all horses whatsoever for delicacie of shape and proportion, insomuch that the most curious painter cannot with all his Art amend their naturall lineaments. 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 [...]". With notes on saddles and bits (several illustrated), as well as numerous cures for horse ailments. - "Divided into eight books with separate titles. The 2nd and 3rd books bear the date of 1616" (Huth). The title page itself bears no imprint, but rather has the word "Cavalarice" sandwiched between the dates "16" and "17". - Occasional slight browning or marginal waterstaining; several small wormholes to margins near end. Title with dated 1745 inscription, 17th century ink annotation to title verso (traced by a later hand), 20th century ink annotation and tipped-in auction catalogue description to front free endpaper. From the library of Francis McIlhenny Stifler with his bookplate to front pastedown. Scarce; only three copies of this edition sold at auction in the last 30 years. BM-STC 17335. Poynter 19.2. OCLC 18813278. Cf. Huth 15. Podeschi/Mellon 18. Graesse IV, 403. Mennessier de la Lance II, 156. Not in Wellcome.
Folio (422 x 528 cm). Lithographed title-page and 60 lithographed plates, all in original hand colour, captions often raised in gilt. With 10 leaves of letterpress text. Half calf with giltstamped spine. (Includes): Die Uebergangsländer von Asien und Afrika, begreifend: Arabien nebst Mesopotamien und Syrien und das Nilgebiet. Munich, C. Wenng, 1845. Engraved map with contemporary border colour. 640 x 544 mm. Scale 1:7,000,000. Only edition of the rare variant with all the plates and in their splendid original colour: "Published in ten parts. The plates show costume of the period and also that of earlier times, taken from paintings" (Hiler). The picturesque views, which include Cairo, Alexandria, Jerusalem, La Valletta, Luxor, and Thebes, genre scenes and landscapes, are all framed within a decorative border and arranged as a small painting. The Nuremberg artist Mayr, known especially for his depictions of battle scenes and horses, was personal painter to Duke Maximilian, whom he accompanied on his 1838 journey of the Orient. The group had departed from Munich on January 20 with a small entourage, travelling via Venice, Korfu, Patras, Athens, Alexandria, and Cairo to the Holy Land. They returned to Munich after eight months on 17 September 1838; the following year, Maximilian was made honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. - Some foxing, otherwise splendidly preserved. Includes the extremely rare map of the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East which was published only in 1845, at the instigation of the naturalist Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert (1780-1860) and the geologist Joseph von Russegger (1802-63), to satisfy this frequently noted lack in Mayr's production (some foxing, but also finely preserved). Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 26. Gay 90 (only 36 plates). Lipperheide Ma 22 (= 1589). Hiler 578. Tobler 161. Graesse IV, 457. Engelmann 124. Kainbacher 265 ("a rarity"). Thieme/Becker XXIV, 477. Nagler VIII, 498f. ("highly memorable drawings"). ADB XXI, 139ff. Not in Blackmer or Abbey (Travel). Not in Colas.
4to. 2 vols. (12), 264 pp. (4), 265-643 pp., final blank. With frontispiece portrait and 8 photographic plates. Contemporary stamped cloth with cover and spine titles. Second printing of the equally scarce 1919 first edition of this notable work of travel literature by the British Army officer S. B. Miles, who served as a diplomat in various Arabic-speaking countries, notably Oman, which he came to know better than any other European of the time. His intent to revise the notes he had "jotted down on odd bits of paper as he rode through the desert on his camel" (Preface) was rendered impossible due to his failing eyesight. Five years after his death his widow decided to publish the manuscript as she found it, enriching it with Miles's travelogue of Mesopotamia as well as an index. The work includes the political and economic history of Oman and the Gulf as well as the history and geography of Dhofar, Arab tribes, and pearl fishing. The plates show the forts at Bahila, Yabreen, and Rostak, as well as the house of Seyyid Hamed Bin Azzar at Rostak, a group of locals, and date palms, while the frontispiece depicts Miles resting in a chair wearing his sunglasses. - Binding slightly rubbed and soiled, cockling to upper cover of vol. 2, rebacked. A good copy of this popular work that saw re-issues in 1966 and 1994. Cf. Ghani 250 (1966 reprint only).
4to (195 x 165 mm). (191) ff., including paste-downs and about 55 blanks. The journal with an engraved view as frontispiece, 15 full-page, 1 nearly full-page and 1 smaller manuscript maps and coastal profiles, plus a small engraved view mounted on 1 page. The lecture notes with a matching pair of engravings of a scull on and facing the title-page, and 27 pencil and/or ink anatomical drawings (including 2 full-page), some also with red. - Including: [Anatomical manuscript]. Morse, Edward George. Lecture Book [notes on anatomical lectures by Joseph Constantine Carpue]. [London], November-December 1828. Contemp, sheepskin parchment. A manuscript ship's journal kept by Edward George Morse (Bromyard 1805?-Deal post 1850?), who no doubt served, among other functions, as the ship's surgeon. Morse reflects on Arabian navigation and Arabian explorers, including the deservedly famous Ibn Battuta. "The Arabians like the Chinese are said to have employed the compass to guide them through the trackless sands of the desert or to enable them at the hours of prayer to direct their faces with precision towards the city of Mecca and tomb of the prophet. In the sixteenth century moreover when the Portuguese first visited the Indian seas they found that the Arabians are the chief navigators of those seas [...]". - Morse made his earliest dated entries in April 1831 at the island Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and others at Madagascar and its surrounding islands from May to August 1831. Those around Madagascar indicate he was on the barque Manchester, but from at least 11 December 1831 to his arrival back in England on 14 March 1833 he was on the barque Sarah, a 600 ton ship sailing out of London. In it he spent a year in the Seychelles 11 December 1831-15 December 1832, including Make Island, Bird Island, Praslin Island and La Digue. - In very good condition. The binding is soiled and rubbed, and the boards slightly warped, but it remains structurally sound. A fascinating and unusual ship's journal with numerous maps, kept in the unused leaves of the author's illustrated anatomical lecture notes of a few years earlier.
4to. ¾ p. Final page of the broullion of a letter to an unidentified recipient, possibly to M. Perrier, director of the arsenal of Marseille, or Sucy, commissaire des guerres. The letter, which contained extensive instructions on the deployment of artillery, was obviously written at the end of 1793 or in early 1794, immediately after the Fall of Toulon, when the Republicans won an early victory over a Royalist rebellion and Napoleon was "inspecteur des côtes". The fragment preserved here begins with the words "Le fondeur est", which are struck out, then continues: "Roux, fondeur, ést venu me demander que l'on fixe le prix de sa journée. La municipalité doit fixer le maximum sur cet objet, comme sur tant d'autres. Je crois qu'il vaut mieux payer tant par quintal de balles que par jours. Vous pouvez, pour cela, faire fixer la journée qui doit toujours être l'élément de toutes les mesures". - Lower left corner torn off (not touching text); some brownstaining, otherwise a perfect sheet. Once in the collection of André de Coppet (1892-1953), now stored at the Firestone Library, Princeton. J. Arnna, Pages de l’épopée impériale (no. 6, reproduced on pl. XIV). Correspondance générale I, p. 155f., no. 130.
5 glass positive lantern slides (85 × 100 mm), each with a black paper mask, paper tape around the edges, a letterpress slip at the foot giving the publisher's name and city, and a slip at the head with the manuscript title. Stored in a contemporary purpose-made wooden box with brass fittings, with the word "Mekka" on the top of the hinged lid. Five of the earliest and best photographs of Mecca and Medina, beautifully preserved as silver gelatin glass plates, including the first photograph of the Ka'ba in Mecca's Masjid al-Haram (Great Mosque). Two of the photographs were taken by the first person to photograph Mecca and Medina, the Egyptian Colonel Muhammad Sadiq Bey (1832-1902), who made them in 1880 for the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II. The others were taken by the first European to photograph Mecca, Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, and Al-Sayyid 'Abd al-Ghaffâr, who worked closely with him. Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936), one of the greatest pioneering Dutch Arabists, converted to Islam and lived in Mecca from January to about July 1885. The photographs by these three men are best known and most frequently reproduced from the published collotype facsimiles, while the rare surviving early albumen prints are usually faded or otherwise in bad condition. The present five plates, sold as lantern slides for magic lantern presentations, are therefore of the greatest importance as well-preserved high quality specimens of these famous photographs, providing the best early images of the mosques of Mecca and Medina. - All five slides are in very good condition, with only a bit of dust and the occasional smudge on the glass. They show: 1) The Masjid al-Haram in Mecca (the Great Mosque); 2) a closer view of the Ka'ba in Mecca; 3) the portrait of an unidentified Mu'ezzin in Mecca; 4) a portrait of an unidentified East Indian pilgrim; 5) the al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina (the Prophet's Mosque). Cf. D. v.d. Wal, Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (2011); J. J. Witkam, new introduction to the 2007 reprint of the 1931 English translation of Hurgronje, Mekka.
Small folio (212 x 316 mm). Manuscript on paper. 140 ff. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine labels. Marbled endpapers. A very rare manuscript copy of this work which its author had not intended for publication (or could not afford to have printed). Fournel, in his "Bibliographie Saint-Simonienne", placed the total number of such manuscript copies prepared at 60 (erroneously giving a date of 1811). The text was first printed in 1858 in a collection with the "Physiologie religieuse d’Enfantin" (Paris & Leipzig, Masson), and then again in the following year within Volume II of the "Œuvres choisies", with a list of some 30 known recipients of the original "Mémoire". - This work was planned as part of a series of studies based on the work of Vicq d'Azyr, Cabanis, Bichat, and Condorcet, the four scholars who had supposedly done most to study the human mind. The author proposes that his "Mémoire" be copied and criticized before being presented to the learned societies. It is an attempt to develop a positive social science which would study man as a species rather than as an individual; physiology would thus be elevated to the rank of the natural sciences. Saint-Simon believed that society could be understood by examining its underlying natural laws, the resulting social science would supposedly be capable of constructing a perfect society. His arguments for the scientific organization of society have been seen as "the first example of pure socialism [...] understood as an economic system in which production is entirely carried on in common and the fruits of labour distributed according to some ideal standard" (R. T. Ely). - Bookplate of the anthropologist and ethnographer Ernest Théodore Hamy (1842-1908), founder of the Musée d’Ethnographie du Trocadéro. Some repairs to the first two leaves, otherwise a very well preserved specimen. Mazzone 29. Walch p. 28 (listing MS 578 at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle) and no. 82 (mentioning copies in the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal and the Bibliothèque Thiers). Fournel p. 13 (misdated "1811"). Dolléans & Crozier 6. Stammhammer I, 214, 53. Booth p. 24-30.
4to. (10), 171, (1) pp. William Brodrick's copy with 3 original watercolours by him, heightened with gum arabic. 28 hand-coloured lithographed plates after William Brodrick, some heightened with gum arabic. Contemporary half green morocco, gilt. Second edition, revised and enlarged: the best edition of this handsome work. This copy, with an impeccable provenance, is enriched by the inclusion of three fine original watercolours by the eminent William Brodrick (1814-88), falconer, taxidermist, physician, and artist, whose works of avian portraiture set the standard of their times. - Provenance: "Wm. Brodrick, Little Hill, 1873" (ink inscription to front free endpaper, and a partially erased pencil inscription to title). - Occasional spotting, heavier to endpapers and half-title; spine faded to brown, corners worn, rubbed. Harting 67. Nissen IVB 147. Schwerdt II, 145.
Folio (208 x 289 mm). 3 parts in 1 volume: 4 (instead of 8?) pp. of preliminaries (blank, alif, ba, gim); 131, (1 blank) pp. and 80 pp. (bound alternatingly), with 56 etched plates; 39, (1 blank) pp.; 283, (1 blank) pp. Contemporary half calf with gilt-stamped spine and marbled covers. The first edition of the first illustrated medical book ever printed in the Muslim world: the pioneering Ottoman physician Sanizade's (1771-1826) medical compendium, the first three books (on anatomy, physiology, and internal medicine) of what would later be known as "Sani-zade's Canon of Five", "Kitâb ül-evvel fi t-tesrihât" ("Mir'âtül-ebdân fî tesrih-i a'zâil-insân"), "Kitab üs-sânî fi 't-tabîyat", and "Kitâb üs-sâlis Miyâr ül-etibbâ". This was one of the earliest Turkish medical works to draw thoroughly on western, Paracelsian and Vesalian science: indeed, it is modelled on and partly translated from Italian and German sources, such as Anton Störck, Bartolomeo Eustachi, Gabriele Fallopio, and Costanzo Varolio, reproducing anatomical illustrations from a variety of sources including Vesalius. - "[B]y and large Ottoman medicine remained [...] attached to its Galenic roots. [...] Real paradigmatic change began to appear only with the upheavals of 19th-century reforms, when translations and adaptations of new European knowledge made their way to the core of the medical profession. One of the first books to spark this revolution was Ataullah Sanizade's compendium 'Hamse-i sanizade', a series of five books published in Ottoman Turkish from 1820 onward, incorporating new medical knowledge from Europe. Sanizade was a brilliant and innovative physician and theorist (as well as musician, astronomer, and historian) who did much to integrate new medical knowledge with the old. His views on medicine encountered much opposition, mainly because of his support for surgery-based study of anatomy. As a result his request to dedicate his chef d'oeuvre to Sultan Mahmud II was denied. In time, however, the compendium came to replace the earlier canonic texts, and was fondly named 'kanun-i sanizade' (Sanizade's canon), referring, of course, to the old master's 'Qanun'. Although the compendium formally adhered to the humoral system and other concepts of ancient medicine, it was here that blood circulation was mentioned for the first time as a scientific concept and as part of a different medical theory. Some of the terminology included in this book formed the basis for a new medical profession that was beginning to take shape" (D. Ze'evi, Producing Desire [2006], p. 20f.). A five-volume Arabic edition appeared at Bulaq in 1828 by direct order of Mehmet Ali. - Part 1 bound as follows (agreeing with the copy in the BSB Munich): 4 pp. of prelims (blank, alif, ba, gim); 3, (1) pp., (2 plates), 2 pp. [index], 5-34 pp., (17 plates), 3-22 pp. [index], 35-68 pp., (9 plates), 23-35 pp. [index; pp. 25-28 numbered 3-6 in error], 1 bl. p., 69-94 pp., (12 plates), 37-48 pp. [index], 95-100 pp., (6 plates), 49-55 pp. [index], 1 bl. p., 101-106 pp., (3 plates), 57-60 pp. [index], 107-120 pp., (5 plates), 61-70 pp. [index], 121-128 pp., (2 plates), 71-80 pp. [index], 129-131 pp., 1 bl. p. Some dampstaining throughout, more prominently so in several plates. In all, a good copy of this rare work, the only edition published during the author's lifetime. OCLC 608102180.
Albumen print (vintage), hand-coloured and raised in gilt and opaque white. Matted (ca. 280 x 360 mm) and framed (ca. 530 x 640 mm). Signed "Lafayette" on the mat. His Royal Highness Saud of Saudi Arabia, second son of and immediate successor to Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia, as a young prince. A fine, splendidly hand-coloured portrait by Lafayette Studios, Photographers Royal and among the world's most prestigious studios of the early 20th century. - In immaculate condition.
8vo (154 x 208 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 267 ff. (final 6 leaves are supplied in a 19th century hand). Naskh script in black and red, with many numerical charts and calculations in text and margins. Rebacked contemporary red morocco, ruled and stamped in blind. Commentary on a work by the Egyptian mathematician Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ha'im (ca. 1352-1412), the "Murshidat al-talib ila asna al-matalib fi ilm al-hisab" ("A student's guide to the summit of learning on the science of mathematics"). Al-Ha'im is famous for his contributions to mathematics, especially in the field of early algebra. The author of the commentary, Baha al-Din Muhammad al-Shinshawri (d. 1590), finished this work in 1587. The present copy was completed by the scribes Abd al-Rahman bin Wali Allah and Shihab al-Din al-Wiqay al-Shinway al-Shafi' on Friday, the 18th of Rabi' al-Thani 1023 AH at Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque in Ottoman Egypt. - The text incorporates several small mathematical charts as well as marginal calculations, which provide a key insight into the development of mathematical notation and visual organization in the early 17th century. - Covers rebacked and spine replaced, along with final six leaves which were probably completed in Western Asia in the 19th century. Several small waqf stamps. A few paper repairs and marginal wormholes, otherwise well-preserved. Cf. GAL II, 125.
8vo (194 x 130 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 90 leaves, 15 lines per page written in more than one hand in cursive script with several words in red; numerous diagrams and tables. Contemporary limp red morocco. The three works comprise: - 1. "Al-Durr al-manthur fi'l-'amal bi-rub' al-dustur". A treatise on calculating time with the aid of the sine quadrant, for any region (GAL II, p. 218, 1, attributed by Brockelmann to Sibt al-Maridini's grandfather, the astronomer Abdallah ibn Khalil ibn Yusuf Jamaladdin al-Maridini al-Qahiri, d. 1406). - 2. "Raqa'iq al-haqa'iq fi hisab al-daraj wa'l daq'iq" ("Subtleties of Truths on Arithmetic of Degrees and Minutes"). Instructions for the calculation of celestial motions with the aid of minute proportions (GAL II, p. 217, 11). A commentary on a work by his teacher, the Egyptian mathematician and astronomer Shihab al-din Abu'l-'Abbas Ahmad ibn Rajab ibn Tibugha 'Ibn al-Majdi' (1365-1447), entitled "Kashf al-haqa'iq fi hisab al-daraj wa'l-daq'iq" ("Opening Truths on Arithmetic of Degrees and Minutes"). - 3. A commentary, "Risalah [al-Fathiyya (al-Shihabiyya)] fi'l-'amal al-jaybiyya" ("Treatise on [Fath al-Din (Shihab al-Din)]". Operations with the sine quadrant (GAL II, p. 216f., 7). - Sibt (Ibn Bint) al-Maridini (the Elder, 1423-1506) lived in Cairo and Damascus. He served as the muwaqqit (time-keeper) of the al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, and was a pupil of Ibn al-Majdi. His works are often conflated with those of his grandfather, and with those of his like-named son, who died in 1527 (GAL II, p. 468). - A few old repairs occasionally affecting letters; altogether very well preserved. Provenance: from the property of Dr. Eugene L. Vigil (b. 1941), of Lynden, Washington, USA. For Sibt al-Maridini see B. A. Rosenfeld & E. Ihsanoglu, Mathematicians, Astronomers & Other Scholars of Islamic Civilisation and their Works, Istanbul 2003, pp. 276f., no. 815, and pp. 293-298, no. 873.
8vo (116 x 180 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 52 pp. on 28 ff. of very fine polished paper (8 ff. on pink paper), complete. Meticulous Naskh in black ink with occasional red; numerous diagrams in red in the margins and occasionally within the text itself. Bound with an astronomical treatise in Persian. 50 pp. Black ink with occasional red; several diagrams in red throughout the text. Altogether 59 ff. 18th century red morocco, ruled in gilt and stamped in blind, modern rebacking. A 16th century Arabic manuscript of the "Sphaerics" by the Greek astronomer and mathematician Theodosius of Bithynia (ca. 169-100 BCE). Unknown in the West during the Middle Ages, the "Sphaerics" proved instrumental in the restoration of Euclidean geometry to Western civilization when the book was brought back from the Islamic world during the crusades and translated from Arabic into Latin. - The text is decorated throughout with geometric diagrams drawn in red ink with a delicate and exacting hand. Each is labelled, and many are quite intricately detailed, showing the geometric qualities of the sphere and progress to astronomical diagrams exploring orbits and planetary movement. This present manuscript was copied by Muhammad Taqi bin Aqa Jalal al-Kilani, dated to Sha'ban 1000 H. - Bound with another astronomical treatise, in Persian, written on somewhat coarser paper stock. Covers worn and rebacked, some dampstaining, otherwise very well preserved. A fine piece in the history of mathematics.
Various formats. Altogether 4 pp. on bifolium. Interesting correspondence with his Paris lawyer Gérard Rosenthal. In the first two (autograph) letters - written from his Turkish exile - Trotsky gives an account of his endeavors to relocate to France. The typed letter (dated 8 December 1938) is written in Mexico City, where the exiled Trotsky was coordinating the activities of the Fourth International into opposition to Stalin. In his telegram of 10 April 1939, also written and posted in Mexico City, Trotsky expresses his worry for his first wife Aleksandra Sokolovskaya, who had been arrested in 1935 and taken to a labour camp in Siberia, where all trace of her had been lost in 1938. He is also worried about his grandson Vsevolod (Seva), the son of his daughter Zinaida, who had taken her own life in 1933. After the death of his father Platon Ivanovitch Volkov in Paris in 1936, Seva had been in the care of Jeanne Molinier, the ex-wife of the French Trotskist movement, who had known Volkov well and now claimed the boy for herself. Trotsky sought to have Seva join him in Mexico and ultimately won custody before the Mexican courts: about a year before Trotsky was murdered he finally managed to embrace his beloved grandson in exile.
Zusammen ca. 237¾ SS. auf 58 Doppelbll., 21 Einzelbll. und 3 Bildpostkarten. Beiliegend 2 Kuverts mit eigenh. Adresse, sieben getrocknete Edelweiß, ein Kinderbrief von Ulbrichts Tochter und 3 Bildpostkarten. Umfangreiche, bislang unerschlossene Korrespondenz zwischen Walter Ulbricht und seiner späteren Frau Lotte Kühn, die ungewöhnliche Einblicke in die frühen Jahre der zuerst heimlichen Beziehung des späteren Staatsratspräsidenten zur "Landesmutter" der DDR gestattet. - Der bereits 42-jährige Kommunist und die zehn Jahre jüngere Genossin hatten einander Anfang 1935 in Moskau kennengelernt: Ulbricht, der nach Hitlers Machtergreifung hatte untertauchen müssen und ins Exil gegangen war, lebte zu jener Zeit nach einer gescheiterten Ehe in einer Beziehung mit der polnischen KP-Funktionärin Rosa Michel; Kühn hatte sich soeben von ihrem durch Stalin verfolgten Mann Erich Wendt getrennt. Während gemeinsamer Monate in Russland wurde Lotte Kühn Ulbrichts Sekretärin und Geliebte: Obwohl sie ihn auf manchen seiner Missionen nach Paris und Prag begleiten konnte, war das Paar oft durch ihre jeweiligen Aufgaben in der Exil-KPD voneinander getrennt. - Der größere Teil der vorliegenden Korrespondenz (etwa 46 Briefe) stammt aus dem Jahr 1935 und dokumentiert die immer innigere Verbindung zwischen dem geschickten KP-Strategen und der jungen Funktionärin mit akademischen Aspirationen, deren Lebensweg zunehmend in den Schatten ihres schon damals gut vernetzten Gefährten rücken würde. Die gegenseitige Wahrnehmung des Partners als Alter Ego findet ihren Niederschlag im kuriosen Gebrauch ein und derselben Kosenamen sowohl als Anrede wie auch als Unterschrift durch beide: "Dein Junge" unterschreibt nicht nur Ulbricht, sondern bemerkenswerterweise auch Kühn, die auch ihrerseits als "Mein liebster Junge" angeredet wird; ebenso bezeichnen beide Briefpartner sowohl sich selbst wie auch den anderen liebevoll mit dem Namen des brutalen "Schufterle" aus Schillers "Räubern". Die zahlreichen Kose- und Tarnnamen mögen auch durch konspirative Zwänge bedingt sein: In Prag lässt sich Ulbricht Post an seine anderen Vornamen "Paul" (10. III. 1935) und "Ernst" (31. III. 1935) adressieren; später bittet ihn Lotte, auf seinem Umschlag "für Hänschen" anzugeben (19. II. 1937). Ein enger Vertrauter des Paars war der mehrfach als Mittelsmann erwähnte Wilhelm Pieck. - Etliche Briefe, manche aus Davos, thematisieren das Skifahren - kein bloßer Wintersport, sondern notwendiges Training für die klandestinen Treffen in verschneiten Erzgebirger Hütten, wo die deutschen Exilkommunisten Propagandamaterial und Tarnschriften an Mitstreiter übergaben. Die zahlreichen der Korrespondenz beiliegenden Edelweiß zeugen von Momenten der sentimentalen Innigkeit während dieser Zeit. - Die gegenseitigen Liebesbeteuerungen sind so tiefempfunden wie umfangreich: "Dich umarme ich viel-vielmals mit einem glühenden 100 meterlangen Tunnel-Kuss", schreibt Lotte Kühn am 3. Juni 1935. Die gemeinsam beschworene Liebe wird in den Kontext des politischen Bewusstseins gestellt: "Hier hat jetzt eine grosse Kampagne für die Familie, für die Kinder und für eine komm[unistische] Ethik begonnen [...] Denn die Kader können nicht erzogen, umgebildet werden, wenn man ihnen nicht in ihren persönlichen Nöten hilft. Vor allem aber auch unseren Vereinsmitgliedern wird die Pflege der Familie zur Pflicht gemacht. Mancher Spießer wird jetzt hohnlächelnd an seine Brust schlagen, aber er hat sich geirrt. Denn unsere Sorgen um Familie & Ehe sind ganz anderer Art, als er sie sich vorstellt. So eine reine, schöne Liebe wie z.B. zwischen uns Beiden ist für ihn unvorstellbar" (Kühn, 5. VI. 1935). Vorbehaltlos nimmt Kühn Ulbrichts kleine Tochter Rose (1931-95), liebevoll "Mimi" genannt, als die eigene an und legt einem eigenen Schreiben sogar einen französisch geschriebenen Brief der Fünfjährigen bei, in dem sie sich für einen Magnetspielzeugkasten bedankt (30. I. 1937). - Nicht minder spielen Parteiarbeit, Meinungsbildung, Lottes Studium und gesellschaftspolitische Beobachtungen eine Rolle. Ulbricht äußert sich zu seiner Lektüre (neben politischen und geschichtlichen Werken auch Dichter wie Heine und Puschkin) und zu kinematographischen Erfahrungen wie seinem "Besuch bei Chaplin": "Der Film 'Moderne Zeit' ist eine glänzende Darstellung der kap[italistischen] Ausbeutung wie der Mensch zur Maschine wird. Die Leute lachen zwar bei den tragischsten Stellen wie besessen, es wird ihnen aber doch zum Bewusstsein gebracht wohin der Kap[italismus] den Menschen bringt [...]" (14. IV. 1935). Er rät Lotte, die "neuesten Sowjetfilme" (6. II. 1935) anzusehen, und gibt Lektüreempfehlungen: "Lies doch noch einmal die Rede Gorkis und einige Aufsätze in der 'Internationalen Literatur' in der die Fragen unsrer Haltung zum Erbe der klassischen Literatur u. a. Das wird für die weitern Aufgaben für uns sehr nützlich sein" (6. III. 1937). In den späteren Schreiben, während der Kriegsjahre, tritt die politische Analyse in den Vordergrund: "Deine Bemerkung über die imp[erialistische] Politik D[eutschlands] ist nicht schlecht. Du hast ganz gut aufgepasst […] Wir sind gegen die imperialistische Politik beider Seiten, wenn auch der englische Imperialismus ag[g]ressiver auftritt. Jetzt wird manchen Leuten erst die geniale Bedeutung des Friedenschlusses mit Finnland bewusst. Die SU kann stärker ihre selbständige Politik des Kampfes um den Frieden und für die Erhaltung ihrer Neutralität durchführen" (Ulbricht, 26. IV. 1940). Im letzten hier vorliegenden Schreiben, von Lotte Kühn datiert am 20. Januar 1943, zeichnet sich mit der bevorstehenden Vernichtung der deutschen 6. Armee in Stalingrad der Wendepunkt des Kriegs ab: "[N]achdem ich in der gestrigen Zeitung die zusammenfassende Karte gesehen hatte, war mir vollständig klar, daß Du nicht eher kommst, bis nicht dieser verdammte Kessel liquidiert ist [...]". - Nach ihrer Scheidung von Erich Wendt, dem späteren Leiter des Aufbau-Verlags, war Lotte Kühn 1936 offiziell Ulbrichts Lebensgefährtin geworden. Nach der Rückkehr ins zerstörte Deutschland 1945 war es Ulbrichts Moskauer Emigrantenzirkel, der die KPD neu gründete und mit der SPD zur SED vereinigte; von 1950 an stand Ulbricht an der Spitze des Zentralkomitees der SED und übte somit die höchste politische Gewalt im Land aus. Bis zu seiner Kaltstellung 1971 gelang es ihm, seine zahlreichen Gegner im ZK geschickt auszumanövrieren. Lotte fiel die Rolle der "First Lady" der DDR zu: 1959 schloss sie ein Studium der Gesellschaftswissenschaften ab, ein ersehntes weiteres Promotionsstudium hintertrieb ihr Mann. Aus ihrem später teilweise öffentlich gewordenen Nachlass ging hervor, dass Lotte und Walter Ulbricht bereits 1950 (und nicht wie zuvor angenommen 1953) heirateten und Lotte mit behördlicher Genehmigung schon ab 1946 Ulbrichts Namen führte. Auch stellte sich heraus, dass Lotte schon 1923 eine erste Ehe mit Otto Schultchen eingegangen war, die laut Gerichtsakten erst 1942 geschieden wurde - sechs Jahre nach der Scheidung von Wendt. - Mit gelegentlichen kleinen Einrissen, Ulbrichts Briefe aus dem Jahr 1937 mit etwas brüchigen Faltlinien, ansonsten sehr gut erhalten.
Small 4to (21 x 15 cm). (16), 410, (6) pp. With woodcut arms of the Dominican order (with the IHS and cross covering the centre) 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 and with the monogram PSMF (Pierre Seguier and his wife Madeleine Fabry) repeated 6 times on the spine, rebacked (on recessed cords) with original gold-tooled backstrip laid-down, a later spine label (between the 1st and 2nd monogram), the year of publication 1611 at the foot of the spine, later endpapers. 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 glorifying his own order's accomplishments in Ethiopia while diminishing those of the Jesuits (his Dominican coat of arms incorporates the IHS with cross, often used by 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. On pp. 88-90 it gives the information from a report to Pope Gregory XIII (1502-85) on two Dominican monks (Blackfriars) from the Alleluya monastery, who entered Mecca around 1580 and had contact with a Faqih and a Marabout. Everyone who travelled from Africa to Mecca supposedly had to travel by way of the Alleluya monastery as the rest of the region was considered uninhabitable (p. 61). - 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 of the 17th-century French scholar Etienne Baluze ("Stephanus Baluzius Tutelensis") 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 and two tiny tears in the margins of the main text, otherwise in very good condition. Binding heavily restored, but with the gold-tooled coat of arms still very clear. Olivier, 271(4). Finger & Piccolino, The shocking history of electric fishes, p. 117; Palau 345993; Salva 3417; cf. Gay, Bibl. de l'Afrique et l'Arabe 2690.
Folio (368 x 255 mm). Etched and engraved title and 31 etched plates (numbered 1-30 and one unnumbered). Contemporary French red morocco gilt, arms of Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac on covers (Olivier 407, fer 15), within gilt border of Richelieu’s repeated motif of two crossed batons intertwined with an ornamental “R”, repeated with coronet within arabesques at the corners, spine gilt in compartments with same motif. First edition; a large-paper copy with Richelieu's arms. Vien's charming series of etchings depicts the costumes worn by members of the French Academy in Rome for a "Turkish masquerade" held during the Carnival celebrations of 1748. This masque is an outstanding example of the influence the orient exerted on western style during the late-Baroque era, showcasing the degree to which cultural transfer was possible and even a matter of enthusiastic adoption by the west but little more than half a century after the siege of Vienna. The elaborate masquerades at the French Academy constituted an important fixture in the Roman calendar. As director of the Academy, Vien organised the masque of 1748, the fabulous costumes of which are presented here, designed, drawn and etched by Vien himself. The costumes in the present suite are "a curious mixture of authentic Turkish habits and European invention" (Blackmer), showing the stock figures of the Turkish court liberally enhanced with elements of Vien's own concoction. The fantastical nature of the creations is a far cry from the sober neo-classical style with which Vien is commonly associated (his pupils included some of the foremost artists of the period, notably Jacques-Louis David). Vien's original drawings and oil paintings for the Mascarade are held by the Musée du Petit Palais; they were exhibited in Berlin in 1989. - Some marginal dampstaining and foxing, binding rebacked retaining most of original spine, corners repaired. This copy commanded $26,000 at Christie's New York in 1997. - Provenance: from the library of Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac (1696-1788), a close friend of Louis XV of France, though critical of Madame de Pompadour. He is supposedly the model for the character of Valmont in Choderlos de Laclos' "Les Liaisons dangereuses". Atabey 1288. Lipperheide Sm 10. Colas 3005 (suggesting the plates are un-numbered). Hiler 879. Le Blanc II, 122, 8-39. Cohen/R. 1014f. Brunet V, 1211. Cf. Blackmer 1730. Cf. Gay 3644. Graesse VI/2, 311 (Paris, Bassan et Poignan).
in folio (mm. 350X210), ff. 368 n.n., leg. coeva piena pergamena, titolo ms. al dorso (rifatto). Prima edizione impressa in Italia, e quinta in assoluto, di questa enciclopedia di storia naturale, stampata per la prima volta a Mainz nel 1491. Testo su due colonne, caratt. gotico, titolo entro elaborata bordura vegetale. Copiosamente Illustrato da circa 1000 magnifiche silografie nel testo (di circa mm 95x70 ognuna) raffiguranti piante, animali, figure umane e mostruose, per la maggior parte tratte dall'edizione del Pruss del 1509. Tre silogr. a piena pagina: al verso del tit. Consulto di medici, tratto dalla Chirurgia di Guglielmo da Piacenza del 1504; al f. A verso: Scheletro umano sormontato dalla scritta ''Homo natus de muliere brevi vivens tempore''; al f. aa verso: Consulto di medici, liberamente tratto dalla tavola del Ketham ''Fasciculo de medicina'' 1493. Importante e rara edizione di quest'opera, una sorta di ''musée à peu près compler de la superstition médiévale'' (Sander), ma particolarmente dettagliata nella sezione dedicata alla botanica: per ogni pianta vengono infatti fornite le proprietà medico-curative, le origini geografiche e i sinonimi. Ottimo esemplare, assai fresco.. Essling 1723. Nissen 2368. Sander 3470. Mortimer I, 238..
7 volumi in-folio grande (cm 48x36), eccezionali legature dell'epoca alle grandi armi araldiche dei Turinetti di Priero in ovali al centro dei piatti: cinque volumi sono in pieno marocchino rosso, mentre due in vitello biondo. Tutti sono arricchiti da una raffinata larga bordura a fiori e frutti in oro ai piatti, mentre i dorsi a 8 scomparti riportano il titolo e decorazioni floreali ai piccoli ferri, con. Lo stemma coronato è retto da due leoni controrampanti, con il motto "non degenero". Malaguzzi n.7 lo identifica con certezza con le armi di Ercole III Turinetti di Priero (1717-81). (restauri alle cuffie, qualche lieve spellatura) Di gran lunga la più importante tra le biblioteche piemontesi del Settecento fu quella dei Turinetti di Priero "nobile famiglia chierese le cui fortune, legate alla finanza, raggiunsero il loro apogeo nel XVIII secolo per ridursi progressivamente sino alle confische legate ai moti del 1821. Di loro biblioteche ho trovato notizie di varia natura per il periodo che va dal 1781 al 1806... Nello stato sabaudo non fu così comune come in Francia l'uso con legature con l'arma del proprietario ..." (F. Malaguzzi, Biblioteche storiche disperse, p. 37-52; e Alla mezza aquila bicipite d'argento, interamente dedicato alla biblioteca Turinetti). Questi sette poderosi volumi sono adorni di 6 ritratti di Carlo III, una carta del Golfo di Napoli a doppia pag., oltre 500 tavole, circa 500 iniziali incise e 700 testate e finalini. I) 1757: occhietto, frontespizio con vignett9, 50 tavv. incise in rame nel testo, (7) di indici, (1) bianca. II) 1760: occhietto, frontespizio con vignetta a, (l'antiporta con ritratto di Carlo III in ovale pp. (2), 1 tavola f.t. a doppia pagina del Golfo di Napoli, pp. 27, antiporta con ritratto di Carlo III come al primo vol., pp. (4) di dedicatoria al medesimo Carlo III di Borbone, (5) di prefazione, (1), 339 comprensive di 60 tavole incise in rame, (10) di indici. III) 1762:occhietto, frontespizio e antiporta come al primo e al secondo volume, pp. XVII di dedicatoria e prefazione, 329 di cui 60 tavole, (12) di indice. IV) 1765: occhietto, frontespizio e antiporta come ai primi 3 voll., pp. X di dedica e prefazione, 368 di cui 79 tavole, (12) di indice. V) 1779: occhietto, frontespizio e antiporta come ai primi 4 voll., pp. X di dedica e prefazione, 407 di cui 84 tavole e gli indici, inclusi nella numerazione. Questo è il quinto ed ultimo volume dedicato alle pitture, in realtà il VII dell'opera. VI) 1767: occhietto, frontespizio e antiporta come ai precedenti voll., pp XLV con 5 tavole incise in rame n.t., 280 con 79 tavole, (10) di indici; pp. 35 di Modello di una nave a 3 ordini di remi, con 3 tavole in rame n.t., due delle quali ripiegate, (2) di indici. Questo è il primo dei due volumi dedicati ai bronzi. VII) 1771:occhietto, frontespizio, pp. XI di cui 2 tavole in rame, 423 di cui 99 tavole, (14) di indici. Questo è il secondo ed ultimo volume dedicato ai bronzi, in realtà il VI dell'opera. I sette volumi appartenuti ai Turinetti di Priero furono preceduti dalla pubblicazione di un volume di catalogo delle scoperte non illustrato (nel 1755) e seguiti da uno dedicato a lucerne e candelabri, uscito addirittura nel 1792; entrambi non figurano in questo set eseguito per la biblioteca piemontese. Da notare che la stragrande maggioranza dei volumi di questa poderosa biblioteca privata erano di formato ridotto: dal –sedicesimo al –quarto: Malaguzzi (in Bibl.St.Scomparse, p. 37-49, analizza un elenco di ben 4845 volumi facenti parte dell'eredità di Giovanni Antonio. Di questi, che comunque rappresentano un sostanzioso campione di quella che poteva essere la costituzione della biblioteca, soltanto 171 volumi sono descritti in-folio, di cui 97 "ligati alla capucina" fanno parte della Descrizione delle Arti e Mestieri. Sono quindi da considerarsi molto rari i volumi in-folio rilegati per i pur agiatissimi Turinetti di Priero. Sebbene i volumi non fossero posti in vendita ma concessi in omaggio alle persone gradite alla Corte Napoletana, la Reale Stamperia con quest'opera, alla quale lavorò per oltre 40 anni, diffuse nel mondo della cultura notizia della ricchezza archeologica del sito di Ercolano. Monumento tipografico impresso su carta forte, di eccezionale bellezza ed in superba rilegatura. Rosaria Ciardiello, L'archeologia dei Borbone nella cultura europea : "Il corpo accademico si riuniva con scadenza bisettimanale almeno fino al 1760 ... si rivelò evidente quanto fosse complessa la formula collegiale e la stesura dei testi fu affidata al segretario Carcani, che, praticamente da solo, proseguì il lavoro pubblicando dal III al VII tomo. Egli inizio anche l'VIII che fu poi completato dall'abate Basso Bassi... Il piano dell'opera era colossale, prevedendo ben 40 volumi, ma non si andò verso l'ottavo ... La pubblicazione di sontuosità regale comportò spese notevoli ... I rinvenimenti di Ercolano e Pompei nonché la pubblicazione dei papiri e dei volumi delle Antichità concorsero nella seconda metà del Settecento e spingere fino a Napoli il Grand Tour. Ciascuno dei visitatori, con la propria sensibilità, riportò le impressioni delle grandi scoperte borboniche contribuendo a diffondere il cosiddetto "gusto ercolanese". Al disegno ed all'incisione dei fogli parteciparono oltre 20 noti artisti del tempo, particolarmente di scuola napoletana, quali Rocco Pozzi, Elia Morghen, C.Paderni, Lor. Biondo, F.La Vega, G.Aloja, P.Gaultieri, N.Vanni, P.Campana, L.Vanvitelli, F.Cepparelli, M.Gorello, C.Nolli. Tra 1748 ed il 1749 il re Carlo di Borbone aveva istituto a Portici una scuola d'incisione in rame, chiamando artisti italiani e stranieri a preparare le tavole (le cui matrici si conservano al Museo Archeologico Nazionale) per le opere commissionate alla Stamperia Reale; e lo stesso sovrano, nel 1755, aveva istituito l'Accademia Ercolanese, composta da quindici membri, per curare la pubblicazione e l'illustrazione dei risultati degli scavi. La grandiosa iniziativa editoriale delle Antichità di Ercolano costituì un evento di singolare rilievo nel secolo e nella storia della letteratura archeologica, rendendo pubblico per la prima volta in dettaglio il ricco patrimonio artistico e documentario rinvenuto nel corso degli scavi. In parte in parte già descritti nel 1755 dal parmense Ottavio Antonio Baiardi, ebbero con questa sontuosa opera una diffusione eccezionale.. (KISSNER Sale, 199). BLACKMER 678. CICOGNARA 2645. EBERT 711. BERLIN KAT. 3947. Cfr. catalogo CIVILTà DEL '700 A NAPOLI..
2 parti in un vol. in-4 gr.(mm 291x220), ff. n.n. 131 su 132 mancando il primo f. bianco; 211 su 212 mancando il primo bianco. Attraente legatura d'amatore del XIX sec. in marocchino blu con riquadro a filetti oro sui piatti, dorso a nervi con tit. e fregi oro, tagli dor., dentelle int. I primi fogli di ambedue le parti sono incorniciati dalla prima bordura ornamentale su fondo nero ad apparire in un testo a stampa (cfr. A.M. Hind, An Introduction to a History of Woodcut, New York, 1963, II, p. 458 e sgg.). Con 14 grandi iniziali xilografiche ornate, sempre su fondo nero; testo in nitidissimo car. tondo. Editio princeps della Historia Romana dello storico alessandrino Appiano nella traduzione latina dell'umanista pavese Pier Candido Decembrio. Il ''De bellis civilibus'' era già apparso nel 1472 preso i torchi di Vindelino da Spira; questa è la prima edizione collettiva delle due parti che tuttavia si trovano raramente riunite, come invece nel presente caso. L'opera di Appiano, storico greco vissuto a Roma nel II sec. d.C., ebbe il merito di mutare l'usuale struttura annalistica della storiografia romana, dividendola sistematicamente per argomenti. La Storia Romana, conclusa intorno al 160 d.C., presenta un resoconto basato sulle storie locali dei vari popoli e paesi che componevano l'impero, a partire dalla loro sottomissione e incorporazione nell'impero stesso. Dei ventiquattro libri di cui era composta, ne sono rimasti integri solamente dieci (dal VI all'VIII e dal XI al XVII). La straordinaria produzione del Decembrio (gli sono attribuite centoventisette opere) si divide essenzialmente tra le traduzioni e le opere storiche. Tradusse dal greco in latino parte dell'Iliade, la Ciropedia di Senofonte, alcune Vite di Plutarco, le Storie di Appiano, la Repubblica di Platone; dal latino in italiano i Commentari di Giulio Cesare... Celebre incunabolo, uno dei primi libri che siano apparsi con ornamenti silografici ed il primo in assoluto su fondo nero. Stupendo esempl. a grandissimi margini, immacolato; al contro piatto ex libris "Ex museo Huthii".. BMC V, 244. Goff A-928. IGI 763. GW 2290. Pellechet 915. Polain 284. Essling 221. Sander 482: ''Les deux superbes bordures ornées d'arabesques blanches sur fond noir, sont demeurées comme un modèle de décoration typographique. L'Appianus est un des exemples les plus typiques de l'influence de la tradition de l'enluminure sur les livres imprimés, mais il est aussi la tentative la mieux réussie pour remplacer la miniature par l'ornamentation typographique''..
8vo. 2 pp. With sealed autograph envelope "à mon fils le conte de Toulouse". Framed and glazed (double-sided, 370 x 339 mm). Insightful letter to his son Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, Count of Toulouse, during the Nine Years' War: "Je suis content de lestat que vous m’avez envoié de la Cav[ale]rie je voy avec plesir la quantité de beaux rég[imen]ts qu il y a il faut travailler a remettre les autres cest ce que vous devés bien mettre dans la teste des officiers. Jay veu avec plesir la petite carte que vous mavés envoiée ou tous les camps d’Aht [!] et de ses environs sont marqués. Continués a faire tout ce que vous devés et a voir tout ce que vous pourrés pour essaier de devenir tel que je vous desire" ("I am happy with the condition that you have sent me of the cavalry. It is with pleasure that I see the quantity of beautiful regiments that there are, work needs to be done in order to fix the others. That is what you must get into the heads of the officers. I saw with pleasure the small map that you sent me, where all the camps of Aht and is surroundings are marked. Continue to do all that you must and see to everything that you can in order to try to become as I want you to be"). - The Siege of Ath in present-day Belgium lasted from 15 May 1697 to 5 June, when the allied garrison capitulated to the French. The French commander Vauban was praised for the efficiency and speed at which his troops captured the eight-bastion fortress that Vauban himself had designed 25 years earlier. This feat put great pressure on the allies to negotiate the treaty of Ryswick that would end the war on 30 October 1697. - Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon (1678-1737) was the last legitimate son of Louis XIV. At the age of five he was named Admiral of France, and following his participation in the Nine Years' War on the Spanish Netherlands front, he rose to the honorary rank of lieutenant general of the King’s armies. In his actual military career, Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon successfully commanded the French fleet in the Battle of Málaga (1704). During the regency he served as minister of the Navy. - With minor browning and tears to the folds.
Madrid, 1906. Folio oblong. Bound in a splendid recent full longgrained burgundy morocco binding in pastiche style, with four raised bands to beautifully gilt spine. Boards with gilt ornamental borders and gilt centre-piece. Gilt line to edges of boards and inner gilt dentelles. Marbled end-papers. All leaves re-hinged. Occasional light brownspotting, but overall very nice. Title-page (the version with the second line (beginning ""Colección de Ochenta...) in lower case), 2 pp. of text (dated 1863) + 80 engraved plates (on fine, laid paper measuring 23,4x32 cm.). Plates 17 and 77 have been misbound (the numbers 1 and 7 look almost the same - Harris II:201: ""In some sets this plate has been bound out of order where the number hs been read as 77""" " II:288: ""In some sets this plate has been bound out of order where the number has been read as 17).
- Nrf, Paris 1929, 25,5x33,5cm, relié. - Voyage au Congo suivi de Retour du Tchad Nrf | Paris 1929 | 25,5 x 33,5 cm | full calf & custom slipcase First collective edition of two journeys in Africa by André Gide published successively in 1927 and 1928. First and luxury edition illustrated with 64 original photographs by Marc Allégret printed in sepia and four cards. One of 28 numbered copies on imperial Japan paper, the tirage de tête. Our copy includes the 1928 colophon specific to the copies of the very first print on Japan and which will be corrected in the copies on Arches (Bibliographie des écrits d'André Gide, Arnold Naville). The high ink absorption quality of Japan paper and its affinity with colour make it the ideal medium for Marc Allégret's famous sepia heliographed photographs. Binding lined with rods in white aniline calf, decoration painted in ink with shades of green, yellow and red, colours of the Republic of the Congo-Brazzaville flag, gilt titanium rods, decoration continuing edge-to-edge on the liners, loose endpapers on Japanese paper dyed with Kakishibu by the binder. Title lengthwise on the spine. Rigid decorated chemise, titled on the spine, matching custom slipcase. Binding signed by Julie Auzillon, gilt film title by Geneviève Quarré de Boiry and yellow gold gilt top edge by Jean-Luc Bongrain. (2022) Very scarce tirage de tête on Japan paper of this masterpiece book of photographs and the first account of travel to these very remote territories of central Africa by an intellectual, and outspoken critic of colonialism. Unique copy set in a stunning art binding, in the colours of the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville. [FRENCH VERSION FOLLOWS] Edition originale collective des deux voyages en Afrique d'André Gide parus successivement en 1927 et 1928, première et luxueuse édition illustrée de 64 photographies originales de Marc Allégret, tirées en sépia, et de quatre cartes, un des 28 exemplaires numérotés sur Japon impérial, tirage de tête. Notre exemplaire comporte bien l'achevé d'imprimer de 1928 propre aux exemplaires de tout premier tirage sur Japon et qui sera corrigé dans les exemplaires sur Arches (Bibliographie des écrits d'André Gide, Arnold Naville). La grande qualité d'absorption de l'encre du papier Japon et son affinité avec la couleur en fait le support idéal pour les fameuses photographies de Marc Allégret héliogravées en sépia. Reliure doublée à tiges en plein veau aniline blanc, décor peint à l'encre en nuances de vert, de jaune et de rouge, couleurs du drapeau de la République du Congo-Brazzaville, tiges de titane dorées, décor se poursuivant sur les doublures bords à bords, gardes volantes en papier japonais teinté au Kakishibu par la relieuse. Titrage en long sur le dos. Chemise rigide décorée, titrée sur le dos, étui. Reliure signée de Julie Auzillon, titrage au film doré de Geneviève Quarré de Boiry et tranche de tête dorée à l'or jaune par Jean-Luc Bongrain. (2022) Très rare tirage de tête sur japon de ce chef-d'oeuvre du livre de photographies et première relation de voyage dans ces territoires très reculés de l'Afrique centrale par un intellectuel critique à l'égard du colonialisme. Unique exemplaire établi dans une somptueuse reliure d'art, aux couleurs de la République du Congo-Brazzaville.
4to. (8), 79, (1) pp. With woodcut headpiece on t. p. and initials. 19th century orange-red crushed morocco by Riviere with leading edges gilt and elaborate gilt inner dentelle, rebacked. All edges gilt. The exceedingly rare first edition of one of the earliest English treatises on horsemanship, derived in part from Xenophon, Federico Grisone's "Ordini di cavalcare", and other authors, and in part from Astley's own experience. This is, in fact, the first translation into English of Xenophon's treatise "Peri hippikes" ("On horsemanship"). - The publication of Astley's "Art of Riding", perhaps his single most lasting achievement, came late in his life as an Elizabethan courtier. Here, he relays the doctrine of the Italian riding schools as he and other Gentleman Pensioners understood it, particularly on training the horse to respond to the hand. Astley was on friendly terms with Thomas Blundeville, whose Grisone translation two decades earlier counts as the first treatise on horsemanship to be published in English. - First three leaves slightly browned, with the upper right corner of each leaf imperceptibly restored from another copy; a closed tear to f. A4. Altogether a remarkable clean and crisp copy in an English master binding. The Fitzwilliam-Gloucester copy, bound with a common companion piece, Claudio Corte's "Art of Riding" (also published by Denham in the same year) commanded £14,400 at Christie's in 2006. The catalogue notes that the scarcity of these two work "at auction varies markedly; ABPC records some 5 copies of Corte's work at auction since 1975, but none of Astley's". Huth p. 11. STC 884. Mellon/Podeschi 12. Hoffmann III, 609 (s. v. Xenophon).
Small 4to (146 x 206 mm). 64 pp. With printer's woodcut device on title-page. 19th century red boards. Only edition of this early milestone of Arabic typography from the Roman Medici Press, including a Latin treatise on Arabic script. The Medici Oriental Press, the first printing press in Europe dedicated to printing books in an Arabic typeface, was founded in Rome under the direction of Giovanni Battista Raimondi and the patronage of Pope Gregory XIII. For the Arabic types, Raimondi commissioned the famous typefounder Robert Granjon: "In a few years Granjon had cut a large number of oriental characters, following superb calligraphic designs provided by Raimondi. On September 6, 1586, he completed the small Arabic typeface [...] Because cutting the Arabic typefaces took such a long time, establishment of the Medici Press went slowly. Though the contracts formally setting up the press were signed on March 6, 1584, the first book to bear its imprint did not appear until 1591. Legible and much more 'oriental' in feel than those of de Gregorii, Postel or Spey, this face was not improved upon until the time of Ibrahim Müteferrika in the early 18th century [...] Once underway, however, the Medici Press was very productive. In 1592 it issued a prospectus of its Arabic type faces under the title 'Alphabetum arabicum' - a 64-page masterpiece of design which not only displays Granjon's beautiful types, but contains a careful Latin Essay on the Arabic writing system" (Lunde). Until 1610 Raimondi printed a mere eight works with Granjon's types, "all equally rare" (Smitskamp 29b), before a long hiatus ensued - probably due to the sluggish distribution of the works in the Orient, where everything produced in the West, and especially any printed specimen of Arabic script, was received with the utmost caution (cf. Fück 55). Even Smitskamp cites only four other productions of the Medici Press, but not this exceptionally rare one. One of the only three other copies known to have appeared in the trade was even thought to be incomplete by Sotheby's, since Adams's collation - based on the Trinity College copy - cites a 24-page appendix that is, in fact, an independent Medici Press grammar bound with the Trinity 'Alphabetum'. - Binding worn and rubbed; spine rebacked. Interior somewhat dust-soiled throughout with occasional light dampstaining; a few marginal annotations on the verso of the title cropped by binder. Title-page with minute wormhole affecting one word on verso; a small hole to the last leaf with loss of a few letters; stamp of a monk to margin of final page. Front pastedown has 1880s bookseller ticket by G. A. Young & Co. of Edinburgh pasted in. An entirely complete copy of an important and excessively rare publication. Adams A 780. BM-STC Italian 36. Schnurrer 41. Edit 16, CNCE 1227. OCLC 47816774. Lunde, Paul, "Arabic and the Art of Printing", in: Aramco World 32/2 (1981) (with illustration). J. Balagna, L'imprimerie arabe en occident (Paris 1984), p. 135. Le Livre et le Liban (mentioned on p. 190; no copy in the catalogue). Not in Smitskamp or Fück.
