692 507 résultats
Narrow 8vo. 1 p. Steel-engraved state insignia printed in red to head of sheet. Menu card for the state banquet in honour of the Pakistani statesman Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (1892-1963), who only a month earlier had become Prime Minister. The card is signed by Mao and Suhrawardy, as well as by five Chinese statesmen: Zhou Enlai (1898-1976, the official host and Premier of the PRC), Huang Yanpei (1878-1965, Vice Premier of the State Council and Minister of Industry since 1954), Peng Zhen (1902-97, Mayor of Beijing, deposed in 1966 but rehabilitated in 1979 and later Chairman of the National People's Congress), Chen Yun (1905-95, leading economic politician, Party Vice Chairman and later one of the major architects and important policy makers for the Chinese economic reform), and Zhu De (1886-1976, Vice Chairman of the Communist Party and of the PRC, long the Commander-in-Chief of the People's Liberation Army and Mao's military advisor since the 1930s). - During this first visit to China by a Pakistani Prime Minister, the delegations discussed matters such as the exchange of goods (coal for cotton) and industrial development, improvements in water management and the training of engineers. In his conversation with Suhrawardy, Zhou sought to dispel fears of Chinese hegemony: China herself, he pointed out, had suffered under Western colonialism and now wished to pursue industrial development in the spirit of peaceful co-existence with all countries, based on mutual respect. Zhou insisted to a skeptical Suhrawardy that the education of the current generation of Chinese political leaders would ensure that future generations would not commit war or aggression. - A little sunned showing very light traces of matting along the edges, otherwise flawless. Signatures by the "Great Chairman" Mao are extremely rare; an ensemble of signatures by several important figures of the first generation of leaders of the People's Republic is almost unprecedented in the trade.
8vo. 1 page. Probably to Paulin Franques (a Paris collaborator of Lachâtre): "Je n’ai plus de copie. Le 16 février j’écrivis à M. Vernouillet qu’elle me faisait défaut depuis des semaines. Alors il devait écrire directement à M. Roy et après un nouveau laps de temps je reçus enfin de la copie mais pas assez. De cette manière des interruptions continuelles sont occasionnées, d’autant plus qu’il me paraît que vous ne tirez pas avant d’avoir cliché, qu’il vous faut avoir, par exemple, les livraisons 18-24 pour pouvoir publier les livraisons 15-20. M. Roy s’est obligé par son contrat avec M. Lachâtre de m’envoyer tous les dix jours soixante pages. Comme la révision de la copie me donne déjà trop de travail, j’ai sûrement le droit de demander que les clauses du traité soient rigoureusement et régulièrement exécutées. Ayez la bonté de faire M. Vernouillet écrit à M. Roy pour qu’il envoie de la copie et de communiquer cette lettre à M. Lachâtre [...]" ("I have no more copy. On February 16th, I wrote to M. Vernouillet that I have had none for weeks. So he had to write to M. Roy, and after another period of time I finally received more copy, but not enough. This way of doing things occasions constant interruptions, the more as it seems to me that you do not print before having printing plates, as you need to have, for instance, instalments 18 to 24 to be able to print instalments 15 to 20. M. Roy is obliged by the contract with M. Lachâtre to send me 60 pages every ten days. The copy's revision already burdens me with a lot of work, so that I could at least ask for strict and regular adherence of the clauses of the contract. Would you please have the kindness to have M. Vernouillet write to M. Roy to send more copy and to communicate this letter to M. Lachâtre [...]". - Lower margin with slight creases. Not in: Marx/Engels, Werke vol. 33 (Briefe Juli 1870 - Dezember 1874).
8vo. ½ page. In French. To "cher citoyen", i. e., Juste Vernouillet in Paris, director of the publishing house Lachatre & Co. in the absence of Maurice Lachatre, who was still exiled in San Sebastian, Spain, for his role in the Paris Commune. - In connection with the ongoing translation of "Das Kapital" into French, Marx writes that it has been nearly two weeks since he announced to the printer, M. Lahure, that he would send him more copy. "Unfortunately, I fell ill and needed to stay in bed until yesterday. I was thus prevented from correcting the manuscript, and I could only resume work after a few days. This is an unpleasant incident". Marx further inquires after the latest postal address of Joseph Roy (1830-1916), his Bordeaux-based translator. - Severely overworked with revising Roy's translation for Lachatre's ongoing publication of "Le Capital" and completing the revised second German edition for his publisher Otto Meissner in Hamburg, the final corrected proofs of which he had sent Meißner at the beginning of the month, Marx had fallen ill in April and would suffer from intermittent bouts of headaches and insomnia until August. - Traces of old folds. Recipient's note to upper margin, some offsetting from similar notes to verso. Not in: Marx/Engels, Werke vol. 33 (Briefe Juli 1870 - Dezember 1874).
8vo. 1 p. on single leaf. To the publisher Maurice Lachâtre concerning the dedication "To citizen Karl Marx" heading the first French edition of "Das Kapital" published between 1872 and 1875: "Dans le dernier paragraphe rectifié il y a ces mots 'ne se laisseront pas arrêter dans leur lecture par l’exposition de vos méthodes analytiques'. Il y a ici un malentendu. Je n’expose pas ma méthode mais je l’applique dès le commencement, mais son application, dans les premiers chapitres, à l’analyse de la 'marchandise', 'la valeur', 'l’argent' est par la nature de la chose elle-même un peu difficile à suivre. Mais c’est facile de changer 'ne se laisseront pas arrêter dans leur lecture par l’application de votre méthode analytique aux premières notions de l’économie politique qui par leur nature même sont très abstraites' - ou quelque chose comme ça - nous aurions avec cela fini avec les préliminaires. Ma photographie sera faite demain [...]" ("The last revised paragraph reads 'they will not let themselves be stopped from reading by the explication of your analytical methods'. This is a misunderstanding. I do not explain my method but I apply it from the beginning, but its application in the first chapters, analysing the 'commodity', 'value', 'money' is in the nature of things themselves somewhat difficult to follow. But it is easy to change to 'they will not let themselves be stopped from reading by the application of your analytical methods in the first notions of the political economy, which are by their nature very abstract' - or something similar - then we will be finished with the preliminaries. My photograph will be taken tomorrow [...]"). For the final version of the paragraph in question, Lachâtre rephrased Marx's suggestion more elegantly. - With a facsimile of Marx' letter "To citizen Maurice La Châtre", dated London, 18 March 1872, that was included among the preliminaries to the French edition of "Das Kapital" immediately before the editor's letter to Marx. - Slightly creased and buckled in the lower left corner. Not in: Marx/Engels, Werke vol. 33 (Briefe Juli 1870 - Dezember 1874).
8vo. 1 page. To an unnamed addressee, probably Maurice Lachâtre: "J'ai écrit à M. Vernouillet pour l'autorizer à payer 300 f. à M. Roy. M. Roy, qui s'est marié et est devenu père, se trouve dans une position très difficile. Pour le mettre à même de donner moins de leçons et consacrer plus de temps à la traduction, M. Roy et moi nous sommes convenus de ceci: d'un côté: je recevrai tous les 10 jours 50 pages; (une quarantaine de pages doit y arriver domain); sa traduction sera ainsi terminé vers la fin de Mai. de l'autre côté: il recevra 200 f. à la fin d'Avril et le reste à la fin de Mai. D'après une lettre de M. Roy il n'a pas encore reçu un seul fascicle imprime! Je trouve cela très étrange! Comment voulez vous qu'il ait activé son travail en ne voyant rien apparaître? Encore, ce n'était que par l'étude des fascicles imprimés qu'il avait été amené à changer sa méthode de traduction. Je suppose que vous n'êtes pour rien dans ce procédé pas convenable [...]" ("I have written to M. Vernouillet authorizing him to pay M. Roy 300 f. M. Roy, who has got married and has become a father, is in a difficult situation. In order to enable him to give fewer lectures and spend more time on the translation, M. Roy and I have agreed on this: on the one hand, I will receive 50 pages every 10 days (some forty pages must arrive tomorrow); this way his translation will be finished by the end of May. On the other hand, he will receive 200 f. by the end of April and the remainder by the end of May. According to a letter from M. Roy he has not yet received a single printed fascicle! I find this very strange! How do you expect him to keep up his work without seeing anything that is released? After all, it was only by studying the printed fascicles that he was made to change his method of translation. I suppose you are not involved at all in this unpleasant process [...]"). Not in: Marx/Engels, Werke vol. 33 (Briefe Juli 1870 - Dezember 1874).
4to. (10), 466, (6) ff. With historiated woodcut initials. Splendid modern full navy blue morocco, bands on spine with title showing faded gilt, covers double-ruled gilt. The first English edition of Ludovico di Varthema's famous travels to Arabia, Persia, and India: the highly important and adventurous narrative containing the first printed eyewitness account of any place in today's United Arab Emirates. On his return journey from Mecca (which he was the first Westerner to describe), Varthema visited Ras al-Khaimah ("Giulfar") and portrayed the city as "most excellent and abounding in everything", with "a good seaport", and whose inhabitants are "all Muslims". While Montalboddo's famous anthology of discoveries, printed in 1507, contained the first printed reference to the Arabian Gulf region, it was Varthema's work, published only three years later, that offered the first actual report from the region by a Western traveller who had visited the coast. All early editions of Varthema’s "Itinerario" are exceedingly rare (even the 2013 Hajj exhibition at the MIA, Doha, only featured the 1654 reprint; cf. below). - Varthema, a gentleman adventurer and soldier from Bologna, left Venice at the end of 1502. In 1503 he reached Alexandria and ascended the Nile to Cairo, continuing to Beirut, Tripoli, Aleppo and Damascus, where, adopting Islam and taking the name of Yunas, he joined a Mameluke escort of a Hajj caravan and began the pilgrimage to Mecca. Varthema was amazed by what he observed: "Truly I never saw so many people collected in one spot as during the twenty days I remained there", he begins, and arriving at the Great Mosque, continues, "it would not be possible to describe the sweetness and the fragrances which are smelt within this temple." Thanks to his knowledge of Arabic and Islam, Varthema was able to appreciate the local culture of the places he visited. Impressed and fascinated, he describes not only rites and rituals, but also social, geographical, and day-to-day details. "I determined, personally, and with my own eyes", he declares in the prefatory dedication, "to ascertain the situation of places, the qualities of peoples [...] of Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Felix, Persia, India, and Ethiopia, remembering well that the testimony of one eye-witness is worth more than ten hear-says." His good fortune did not continue unabated, however: after embarking at Jeddah and sailing to Aden, he was denounced as a Christian spy and imprisoned. He secured his release and proceeded on an extensive tour of southwest Arabia. Stopping in Sanaa and Zebid as well as a number of smaller cities, he describes the people, the markets and trade, the kind of fruits and animals that are plentiful in the vicinity, and any historical or cultural information deemed noteworthy. Returning to Aden, and after a brief stop in Ethiopia, he set sail for India. In addition to visiting Persia, Varthema explored the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, including a stay at Calicut at the beginning of 1505. He also purports to have made extensive travels around the Malay peninsula and the Moluccas. Returning to Calicut in August 1505, he took employment with the Portuguese at Cochin and, in 1508, made his way back to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope. - First published in 1510, Varthema's account became an immediate bestseller. In addition to his fascinating account of Egypt, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and the holy Muslim cities, "Varthema brought into European literature an appreciation of the areas east of India [...] which it had previously not received from the sea-travelers and which confirmed by firsthand observations many of the statements made earlier by Marco Polo and the writers of antiquity" (Lach, I. i. 166). "Varthema was a real traveller. His reports on the social and political conditions of the various lands he visited are reliable as being gathered from personal contact with places and peoples. His account of the overland trade is of great value in that we are made to see it before it had begun to give way to the all-seas route. He even heard of a southern continent and of a region of intense cold and very short days, being the first European probably after Marco Polo to bring back the rumor of Terra Australis" (Cox I, 260). - Published as an extensive part of "The History of Travayle in the West and East Indies" - one of the first English versions of the significant collection edited by Pietro Martire d'Anghiera (Peter Martyr, 1457-1526). The first independently published English translation would not appear until 1863: Varthema's travelogue was included for the first time in the present translated edition of Martyr's "History". The translation, with some omissions, is that of Decades I-III of "De Orbe Novo" by Martyr, with additions from other sources, edited by Richard Eden and Richard Willes. Willes was a member of the Jesuits from 1565 to 1572 and was familiar with Maffei, the Jesuit chronicler whose account he drew on for this work. Under the benefaction of the Earl of Bedford, Willes expanded Eden's translation to include, apart from Varthema's travels, four Decades and an abridgement of Decades V-VIII; Frobisher's voyage for a Northwest Passage, Sebastian Cabot's voyages to the Arctic for the Moscovy Company, Cortez's conquest of Mexico, Pereira's description of China, 1565, Acosta and Maffei's notices of Japan, 1573, and the first two English voyages to West Africa. Also, this is the first account in English of Magellan's circumnavigation, as well as the first printed work to advocate a British colony in North America. - Sympathetically washed but not pressed; some minor repairs to title not affecting printed surface. Some remaining toning and staining in small areas of a few leaves. Generally a wide-margined and appealing copy. - Provenance: acquired from Quaritch in 1975 by Gregory S. Javitch (1898-1980), a Russian-born, Canadian leader in the land reclamation sector in Ontario. Javitch formed an important collection of 2,500 items entitled "Peoples of the New World", encompassing both North and South America, which was acquired by the Bruce Peel Special Collections at the University of Alberta. It was considered the finest such private collection in Canada at the time and formed the cornerstone of the library’s Special collections. The present volume remained in Javitch's private collection was acquired directly from his heirs. Howgego M65. Brunet I, 294. OCLC 5296745. LCCN 02-7743. Alden, European Americana 577/2. Church 119. Streeter Sale 24. Arents 23. Borba de Moraes, p. 33. Hill 533. BM-STC 649. Sabin 1562. Cordier, Japonica 71. Field 485. Cf. exhibition cat. “Hajj - The Journey Through Art” (Doha, 2013), p. 90 (1655 Dutch ed. only). Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 2239f. (other editions only). Not in the Atabey or Blackmer collections.
8vo. ½ page. To an unnamed addressee, probably Maurice Lachâtre: "Cher citoyen, J’étais très malade pendant les dernières semaines et je suis encore souffrant. Cependant M. Lahure a reçu les dernières épreuves le 8 septembre. Il a tout et plus qu’il ne lui faut pour publier les 5 et 6 livraisons. Pourquoi ne procède-t-il donc pas? Je trouve qu’il agit très impolitiquement, et vous m’obligerez en m’informant sur les raisons de ce retard. À Berlin, dans les cercles les mieux instruits, on considère la fusion comme une chose perdue et le rétablissement de la monarchie en France comme un rêve qui ne s’accomplira pas [...]" ("I have been very ill during the last weeks and am still suffering. Meanwhile M. Lahure has received the last proofs on September 8th. He has everything and more of what he does not need to publish instalments 5 and 6. So why is he not proceeding? I think his actions are highly impolitic, and I am obliged to you for informing me about the reasons for the delay. In Berlin, in the better informed circles, the fusion is considered a lost cause and the restoration of the monarchy in France a dream never to be accomplished [...]"). - Marx alludes to the attempt of a monarchic fusion undertaken by the count of Paris, Head of the House of Orléans, next to the count of Chambord, legitimist suitor. - Written in a small, close hand. With a notarial inventory mark. Not in: Marx/Engels, Werke vol. 33 (Briefe Juli 1870 - Dezember 1874).
12mo. 1 page. To an unnamed addressee, probably Juste Vernouillet, director of the publishing house Lachâtre & Co, about the last part of the translation of "Das Kapital": "Cher citoyen, J’ai reçu hier de la part de M. Roy la fin de la traduction. Il faut lui donc payer le reste des 1500 frs que j’ai avancés (à M. Lachâtre) pour sa rémunération. Ma santé est à peu près rétablie et M. Lahure recevra bientôt une bonne partie du manuscrit [...]" ("Dear citizen, yesterday I received from M. Roy the end of the translation. Therefore he has to be paid the rest of the 1500 frs which I have advanced (to M. Lachâtre) for his payment. My health is nearly restored and M. Lahure will soon receive a good part of the manuscript [...]"). - With a notarial inventory mark. Tiny holes; lower margin slightly frayed. Not in: Marx/Engels, Werke vol. 33 (Briefe Juli 1870 - Dezember 1874).
4to (210 x 135 mm). French manuscript on paper. 90 ff. Flemish Bastarda in black ink, 26 lines. Bound with 16 strictly contemporary specimens of Turkish silhouette paper, a series of 28 watercolours, heightened in gilt and two extensive, early 19th century manuscript additions (complete transcript of the the travelogue and a biography of the author). Slightly later vellum with ms. title. Unique, fascinating and unpublished manuscript containing the account of a diplomatic journey to the Ottoman Empire in 1570. Braeckle (1540-71), a Flemish physician, "assisted Charles Rym Baron de Bellem, Ambassador of Maximilian II in Constantinople, probably as a secretary. He wrote an account of his journey, which contains interesting details about the places he visited, the manners and customs of the inhabitants, incidents, etc." (Aug. Vander Meersch, in: Belgian National Biography II, 903). Leaving Prague on 13 March 1570, the mission passed through Vienna and then Hungary and Czechoslovakia before entering Ottoman territory, visiting the mosques and caravanserais of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (c. 1505-79), Grand Vizier of Sultan Selim II (1524-74) who ruled the Turks at the time of Rym's and Braeckle's journey. Their stay in Constantinople lasted from 31 May to 12 August 1570, permitting the author to describe several monuments and works of art. During the journey back they travelled through Bulgaria, Serbia (they were held in Belgrade for nearly a month), and Hungary. The mission ended with their return to Germany on 23 October 1570. Jacques de Braeckle died shortly afterwards, in 1571. - The ms. is accompanied by a beautiful set of 28 original watercolours heightened in gilt. Showing Turkish people in traditional costumes, such illustrations were usually fashioned for sale to travellers in Constantinople or passed on to western merchants. However, as the present set includes the caravanserai of the diplomatic legation, it is extremely likely that these were created with the sole purpose of illustrating the diplomatic mission of Charles Rym, described within the present manuscript. The figures are captioned next to the subjects (16th century Italian script in black ink), indicating that the legends were recorded after the plates were collated and sewn together, or that they were included in books before insertion into the present volume. Among the illustrations are the caravanserai of the ambassadors to Constantinople, Sultan Selim II, the Mufti, costumes of Ottoman dignitaries and the military, a Persian, a Moor of Barbary, a lady in burqa, a Bulgarian, a giraffe, etc. The author of the Italian captions may have been the ambassador Edoardo Provisionali: he was responsible for several diplomatic missions and is known to have appreciated the Ottoman culture; furthermore, de Braeckle left Constantinople in his company (cf. Yerasimos). The manuscript is also bound with 16 remarkable specimens of 16th c. Turkish paper (title in French in pen on the first sheet: "papier de Turquie"). At the beginning of the volume is a transcription, calligraphed in an elegant French cursive of the early 19th century (18 unnumbered ff., black ink, 21 lines per page). The volume ends with a short biography of the author (2 pp., black ink, with the arms of de Braeckle). Yerasimos provides a detailed chronology of the journey, listing the major cities visited as well as monuments and curiosities noted by the travellers. - Only three manuscript copies of the present travelogue are recorded, mostly restricted to family use: two copies are in the National Archives of Belgium in Brussels (Fonds 692 Lalang, 8f., cf. Yerasimos); a third copy is bound in a miscellany and kept at the communal Archives of Ghent. - Binding rubbed, spine detached, in excellent condition internally. Stéphane Yerasimos, Les Voyageurs dans l'Empire Ottoman (XIVe-XVIe siècles), Ankara, 1991, pp. 286f. Not in Blackmer or Atabey.
Ink on blue silk, 696 x 530 mm. Stored in custom-made half morocco case. Formal valedictory address to General Prokofy Logvinovich Romanenko (1897-1949): "Together with the Soviet heroic army, with your blood and your lives, you brought freedom to Korea. You made the Japanese invaders flee, made the enemies run and breathed happy, free, and new life into our nation. In the shortest time North Korea has destroyed the remains of the Japanese imperialistic forces. The People's Committee has became the true power of the people. Under its leadership we victoriously undertake all democratic changes. As a result we shall create such conditions that the people will live freely and happily in the Democratic Republic. Therefore, the people of Korea will never forget your work and your effort. Today we bid you farewell with the warmest gratitude. All the people of Korea will unite around the Committee and promise to fight to the end until the Democratic Republic is formed. We ask you to provide help in the future as well. We wish you health for the years to come. 13/8/1947. The chair of the People’s Committee of North Korea, Kim Il-sung" (transl.). - Folded. Includes a roughly contemporary Russian translation (pencil on ruled paper, 3 pp., oblong 8vo). - General Romanenko, one of the key Soviet military leaders of the Second World War, had been assigned to the East Siberian Military Region in 1945. He was one of the official Soviet liaisons with the temporary government of North Korea (the "People's Committee"), organised in 1946. Recently returned from the USSR in February 1946, Kim Il-sung was appointed chairman of the Committee, marking the beginning of his ascent to power. Romanenko was generally supportive of Kim’s efforts, in line with Soviet official policy: in 1946 he allowed 500 ethnically Korean Soviet citizens to enter North Korea, at Kim’s request. Most of them were administrative specialists or engineers. - Provenance: by descent to Koloss Prokofievich Romanenko (b. 1925), the son of Prokofy Romanenko; sold to a Russian private collection; acquired from the collector's heirs. Includes a copy of the previous owner's statement of acquisition.
Albumen print, ca. 115 x 85 mm, under brown cardboard matte (17 x 13 cm). A very rare example of a signed Lenin portrait. Dated in his own hand "26/V 1920" and signed in French as "Vladimir Oulianoff". Additional signature of the photographer, Moses Solomonovitch Nappelbaum (1869-1958), in pencil in the lower right corner of the cardboard matte. Nappelbaum shot the famous portrait at the Smolny Institute in St Petersburg in 1918. The present print shows typical graphic retouching by the artist to the background and lapel areas. A near-identical print, inscribed by Lenin on 15 April 1920, is in the Corrêa do Lago collection (Magia del Manoscritto catalogue, p. 206). - By tradition, this photograph was presented by Lenin to the English socialist politician George Lansbury (1859-1940), who had visited the Soviet Union in early 1920 and hat met the leader of the Revolution in Moscow on 22 February. Later that same year, Lansbury published a widely received account of his journey, "What I Saw in Russia", in which he gave a highly flattering portrayal of Lenin. - Occasional insignificant scuffs; dark areas show some silver mirroring due to the oxidative-reductive process. Nappelbaum's signature is rather faded, while that of Lenin remains stark and well-defined. - Provenance: Swiss private collection; accompanied by a description from Diana J. Rendell, Inc., Massachusetts.
Folio (533 x 364 mm). (3), 79 pp., engraved, illustrated title-page and 25 engraved maps after William Faden, in contemporary hand colour. Contemporary black morocco, richly stamped in silver and blind. Bright yellow pastedowns. In custom-made half morocco solander box. The first European-style atlas printed in the Islamic world: an exceedingly rare, handsome, and entirely complete example in its original first binding. "[T]he first world atlas printed by Muslims [...], of which only fifty copies were printed" (Library of Congress, Near East Collections: an illustrated guide, online). Several copies were reserved for high-ranking officials and important institutions; most of the remainder were destroyed in a warehouse fire during the Janissary Revolt of 1808. "Based on several estimates and accounting for the single maps (torn-out from bound volumes of the atlas) sold or being offered worldwide, it is believed that a maximum of 20 complete examples could be present in libraries or in private collections, whereas some sources suggest that there exist only 10 complete and intact copies in the world. As such, it is one of the rarest printed atlases of historical value" (Wikipedia). - A prestigious project for the Ottoman Palace with the seal of approval of the Sultan Selim III, this work was one of the avantgardistic enterprises promoted by Mahmoud Ra'if to introduce Western technical and scientific knowledge to the Ottoman state. Composed of 25 maps based on William Faden's "General Atlas", it is the first Muslim-published world atlas to make use of European geographic knowledge. On each of the maps the place-names are transliterated in Arabic. The Atlas includes Raif's 79-page geographical treatise "Ucalet ül-Cografiye" and the frequently missing folding celestial map on blue paper. - Maps very clean, showing only a few minor stains and repaired tears to folds; a creasemark to the map of Africa; an internal tear to pre-Revolutionary map of France. Binding professionally repaired at extremeties and upper hinge with a few scuffmarks and insignificant traces of worming. An excellent copy, one of the very few surviving specimens in the beautiful original oriental leather binding (the only other known example was sold through us in 2019). A severely defective copy recently commanded an auction price of USD 118,750 (Swann Galleries NY, 26 May 2016, lot 199). OCLC 54966656. Not in Philipps/Le Gear. Not in Atabey or Blackmer collections.
8vo. 1 p. bifolium with integral address leaf. Unpublished, early letter in French, Marx's only known missive to the Belgian journalist and politician Lucien-Léopold Jottrand (1804-77), who during the Belgian Revolution of 1830 had designed what would become the national flag of Belgium: "J’ai l’honneur de vous faire parvenir l’original de mon petit discours inséré au Northern Star. Je me fais un Plaisir d’y ajouter un exemplaire de mon livre contre M. Proudhon [...]". Five days previously, at a Brussels "Workers' Banquet" led by Engels and Jottrand, it had been decided to found a "Democratic Association", and Engels was elected to its organising committee. Engels had warned Jottrand that he might have to leave Belgium and thus would be unable to serve; his suggested replacement was Marx. Indeed, on the 30th of September, Engels officially wrote to Jottrand that circumstances would require his absence: "I therefore request you to call on a German democrat resident in Brussels to participate in the work of the committee charged with organising a universal democratic society. I would take the liberty of proposing to you one of the German democrats in Brussels whom the meeting, had he been able to attend it, would have nominated for the office which, in his absence, it honoured me by conferring upon myself. I mean Mr Marx, who, I am firmly convinced, has the best claim to represent German democracy on the committee. Hence it would not be Mr Marx who would be replacing me there, but rather I who, at the meeting, replaced Mr Marx [...]" (cf. MEGA III.2, p. 110). On the same day, he advised Marx of the content of his letter to Jottrand, adding: "I had in fact already agreed with Jottrand that I would advise him in writing of my departure and propose you for the committee. Jottrand is also away and will be back in a fortnight. If, as I believe, nothing comes of the whole affair, it will be Heilberg’s proposal that falls through; if something does come of it, then it will be we who have brought the thing about. Either way we have succeeded in getting you and, after you, myself, recognised as representatives of the German democrats in Brussels, besides the whole plot having been brought to a dreadfully ignominious end" (cf. p. 105). Under the influence of Marx, the Brussels Democratic Association would soon become one of the principal hubs of the international democratic movement, and the present letter constitutes Marx's formal introduction to its president, Jottrand. Notably, Marx included with his letter the manuscript of a piece he had written for Engels's "Northern Star" as well as his recently published "Poverty of Philosophy", an attack on Proudon’s "Philosophy of Poverty" and a pivotal work in Marx’s thinking. Here, Marx memorably described his opponent as "petit bourgeois" - an epithet which resounded in all later Communist literature. Marx’s book paved the way for the Communist Manifesto, written between December 1847 and January 1848. - Marx dated the letter "2 octobre" from his Brussels address in the rue d’Orléans; the letter is erroneously docketed "1848" in another hand. Vertical and horizontal folds, but well-preserved. Not in MEGA III.2 (Letters May 1846-Dec. 1848); for Jottrand cf. p. 1176.
8vo. 1 page. To an unnamed addressee, probably Juste Vernouillet, director of the publishing house Lachâtre & Co.: "M. Roy ayant priè M. Lachâtre de lui faire donner 300 f. à la fin de ce mois. M. Lachâtre a demandé que je donne mon autorization. J'écris donc aujourdhui à vous et à M. L. pour vous autorizer à payer immédiatement cette somme à M. Roy. Je vois de la lettre de M. Roy qu'il n'a pas encore reçu un seul fascicle imprimé. C'est presque incroyable! Certainement, ce n'était pas là une manière d'activer son travail ou de le mettre à même de changer son mode de traduction [...]" ("M. Roy has asked M. Lachâtre to give him 300 f. by the end of this month. M. Lachâtre has asked me to give my authorisation. Therefore, I write to you and to M. L. today to authorise you to pay M. Roy this sum immediately. From M. Roy's letter I see that he has not received a single printed fascicle. That is almost unbelievable! Surely, this was not a means to prompt his work or to even make him change his mode of translation [...]"). - With old inventory note. Not in: Marx/Engels, Werke vol. 33 (Briefe Juli 1870 - Dezember 1874).
4to. 4 vols. (10), 20 pp. (10), 40 pp. (14), 33 pp. (12), 19 pp. With 2 watercoloured and 4 coloured engraved coats of arms, 1 coloured engraved dedication plate, 183 (instead of 186) plates of birds, 15 of which in watercolour and 168 on splendidly illuminated engraved plates, partly heightened in gold, silver and copper, with lavish watercolour borders. Contemporary glazed red morocco binding with double gilt engraved spine labels, splendid floral spine and cover gilding. Vols. 4-6 with coloured armorial supralibros to upper covers. Calico endpapers, all edges gilt. Unique copy of one of the rarest works of zoological book illustration, from the library of the banker, art collector, and patron Moritz von Fries (1777-1826), for whom the set was in all likelihood specially produced. Around 1800, Fries was considered without doubt the richest man in the Habsburg monarchy. The splendid engraved plates were elaborately illuminated, each with rich botanical and architectural decoration extending even beyond the engraved matter. In addition, the copy at hand was enhanced by 15 original watercolours (all in vols. 5 and 6), whereas the regular copies include merely prints. The only verifiable complete copies, in the Austrian National Library (ÖNB) and the Bavarian State Library (BSB), show less splendid decoration, with only three watercolours each in the respective volumes and no watercolour borders whatsoever. The Fideicommissum collection in the ÖNB holds 5 illuminated volumes of Spalowsky's work, with volume 5 containing the highest traceable number of watercolours among all copies available for comparison. As the final volume is lacking in the Fideicommissum collection, the eight watercolours and splendid framings of vol. 6 of Fries's copy are probably unique. - Since 1932, the only copies traceable at auction were those at Ketterer, 2017 (vols. 1-4) and Christie's, 2012 (vols. 1-3). The volumes sold in 2017, along with the ones at the ÖNB and BSB, belong to the normal edition without the watercolour embellishment and the artist's colouring, while the copy sold at Christie's would seem to have been at least comparable to Fries's in respect to its décor. However, neither the Christie's copy nor any of the others discussed above include any original watercolours, which are to be found in that of Fries's alone. - The splendid avian illustrations surrounded by landscape motifs and architectural decoration are labelled in red ink, identifying the animals' German and scientific names. The labelling is sometimes overpainted, suggesting that the decision to extend the watercolour décor was made at a later stage. The engravings were produced by five artists, among which were Benedikt Piringer and Sámuel Czetter. In vol. 5 of the Fideicommissum copy, Piringer signed one of the watercolours, proving that he provided templates for the engravers and contributed to the colouring. - Spalowsky's "Naturgeschichte der Vögel" was planned as part of a large natural history publication. In a subscription announcement from 1791 the surgeon and army physician advertised the plates showing species "previously not illustrated by any author" and promises the vivid, realistic colour "of the originals". A large proportion of the species depicted, including four falcons, originate from Asia, mostly from India and China, and are not to be found in Brisson's or Buffon's works. The present copy constitutes a special edition of the most expensive version of decoration, priced at 36 guilders - 15 times the cost of the plainest version. The eventual failure of this ambitious project was undoubtedly due not alone to the author's untimely death in 1797, although Spalowsky did succeed in wooing several prominent dedicatees for his elaborate publication. The "Naturgeschichte der Vögel" is dedicated to Alois I Joseph von Liechtenstein and Caroline von Manderscheid-Blankenheim (vol. 1), Beethoven's patron Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz and Caroline Theresa von Schwarzenberg (vol. 4), Wenzel count Paar and Maria Antonia Princess Liechtenstein (vol. 5), as well as Anton Theodor von Colloredo-Waldsee-Mels, archbishop of Olmütz (vol. 6). - Provenance: 1) Maurice count Fries, with his library stamps, "EX BIBL(iotheca) MAVR(icii) COM(es) FRIES" to title-page (verso), now obscured by monogrammed red seals ("MF"); 2) Dorotheum sale, 12 Feb. 1932, lot 44, 75 ATS (description mounted to lower flyleaf of vol. 6); 3) Austrian private collection; 4) Dorotheum sale, 18 Dec. 2019, lot 222, not mentioning the Fries provenance or the 15 watercolours. - Marginal flaw to armorial supralibros of vol. 5. Lacks 3 plates (plate 2 in vol. 1, plates 6 and 39 in vol. 5). Index and plate 42 in vol. 4 have small flaws. Plate 31 in vol. 1, plate 43 in vol. 4, and plate 44, as well as one armorial engraving in vol. 5 slightly smudged. Nissen, IVB 888. Schlenker 345.1. Wurzbach XXXVI.56. Sitwell/Buchanan p. 143. Not in Nissen, ZBI. Not in Anker.
4to. 226 pp., final blank f. With title woodcut and 47 woodcuts in the text (including 1 full-page illustration). Blindstamped dark blue morocco by Riviere & Son with giltstamped spine title. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. The first illustrated edition (in its second issue) of one of the most famous early travel reports and the first western encounter with the Arab world. Of the utmost rarity; not a single copy could be traced on the market for the past sixty years; not a single copy in the USA (cf. OCLC). Lodovico de Varthema’s “Itinerario” contains the first printed eyewitness account of any place in today's United Arab Emirates: on his return journey from Mecca (which he was the first Westerner to describe), Varthema visited Ras al-Khaimah ("Giulfar") and portrayed the city as "most excellent and abounding in everything", with "a good seaport", and whose inhabitants are "all Muslims". While Montalboddo's famous anthology of discoveries, printed in 1507, contained the first printed reference to the Arabian Gulf region, it was Varthema's work, published only three years later, that offered the first actual report from the region by a Western traveller who had visited the coast. All early editions of Varthema’s “Itinerario” are exceedingly rare (even the 2013 Hajj exhibition at the MIA, Doha, only featured the 1654 reprint; cf. below). This - the first illustrated one - is certainly the rarest of them all: international auction records list not a single copy. The 1510 editio princeps was offered for US$ 1 million at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair in April 2011. - Varthema, a gentleman adventurer and soldier from Bologna, left Venice at the end of 1502. In 1503 he reached Alexandria and ascended the Nile to Cairo, continuing to Beirut, Tripoli, Aleppo and Damascus, where, adopting Islam and taking the name of Yunas, he joined a Mameluke escort of a Hajj caravan and began the pilgrimage to Mecca. Varthema was amazed by what he observed: "Truly I never saw so many people collected in one spot as during the twenty days I remained there", he begins, and arriving at the Great Mosque, continues, "it would not be possible to describe the sweetness and the fragrances which are smelt within this temple." Thanks to his knowledge of Arabic and Islam, Varthema was able to appreciate the local culture of the places he visited. Impressed and fascinated, he describes not only rites and rituals, but also social, geographical, and day-to-day details. "I determined, personally, and with my own eyes", he declares in the prefatory dedication, "to ascertain the situation of places, the qualities of peoples [...] of Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Felix, Persia, India, and Ethiopia, remembering well that the testimony of one eye-witness is worth more than ten hear-says." His good fortune did not continue unabated, however: after embarking at Jeddah and sailing to Aden, he was denounced as a Christian spy and imprisoned. He secured his release and proceeded on an extensive tour of southwest Arabia. Stopping in Sanaa and Zebid as well as a number of smaller cities, he describes the people, the markets and trade, the kind of fruits and animals that are plentiful in the vicinity, and any historical or cultural information deemed noteworthy. Returning to Aden, and after a brief stop in Ethiopia, he set sail for India. In addition to visiting Persia, Varthema explored the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, including a very documented stay at Calicut at the beginning of 1505. He also purports to have made extensive travels around the Malay peninsula and the Moluccas. Returning to Calicut in August 1505, he took employment with the Portuguese at Cochin and, in 1508, made his way back to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope. - First published in 1510, Varthema's account became an immediate bestseller. In addition to his fascinating account of Egypt, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and the holy Muslim cities, "Varthema brought into European literature an appreciation of the areas east of India [...] which it had previously not received from the sea-travelers and which confirmed by firsthand observations many of the statements made earlier by Marco Polo and the writers of antiquity" (Lach, I. i. 166). "Varthema was a real traveller. His reports on the social and political conditions of the various lands he visited are reliable as being gathered from personal contact with places and peoples. His account of the overland trade is of great value in that we are made to see it before it had begun to give way to the all-seas route. He even heard of a southern continent and of a region of intense cold and very short days, being the first European probably after Marco Polo to bring back the rumor of Terra Australis" (Cox I, 260). - A few contemporary underlinings and marginalie. Some slight browning and staining as usual; stamp of the Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen on the reverse of the title. VD 16, ZV 15157. BM-STC 66. IA 113.543 (includes copies in BSB Munich and Wolfenbüttel). Benzing (Strasbourg) 100. Schmidt (Knobloch) 132. Ritter (IV) 932 & 2000. Muller 132, 170. Kristeller 383. Paulitschke 296. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 305. Röhricht 574. Cf. exhibition cat. “Hajj - The Journey Through Art” (Doha, 2013), p. 90 (1655 Dutch ed. only). Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 2239 (other editions only).
8vo (115 x 175 mm). Ink on paper. ½ p. Stored in custom-made red half morocco case. To "Mess. Longmans & Co", in English: "Sirs, The firm of Faesy and Frick (Vienna) have asked me to forward them through you 2 copies of my book 'Misere de la Philosophie'. Please to inform them that the edition is completely exhausted. I have myself in vain tried to get some copies second hand for a correspondent at St. Petersburgh. Yours obediently [...]". - Traces of a vertical and horizontal fold. Well preserved. Not in: Marx/Engels, Werke vol. 34 (Briefe Januar 1875 - Dezember 1880).
Small 8vo. 1 page. In French. Apparently to Juste Vernouillet in Paris, director of the publishing house Lachatre & Co. in the absence of Maurice Lachatre, who was still exiled in San Sebastian, Spain, for his role in the Paris Commune. Marx addresses Vernouillet as "cher citoyen" and sends him the next 31 pages of Joseph Roy's translated manuscript of "Le Capital" (up to p. 472), with his own extensive revisions, for typesetting. He also requests "100 copies of fascicle II, as well as 30 copies of fascicle I, which you will add to my account". - The first livraison of the French edition had appeared in August 1872, the second was delayed until early February 1873. In January 1872, Marx and Lachatre had not even signed their publication contract. Although Marx was not usually prone to misdating letters at the beginning of the year (a lapse more common in Engels's letters), he was at that moment seriously overworked with revising Roy's translation for Lachatre's ongoing publication, and simultaneously completing the revised second German edition for his publisher Otto Meissner in Hamburg. Quite recently he had complained to his correspondent Friedrich Adolph Sorge, "Because of the French translation, which makes me more work than if I had to do it without the translator, I am so overworked that I have not been able to write to you" (21 Dec. 1872), and still a month after the present letter, he wrote to Friedrich Bolte in very similar vein that "the revision of the French translation is causing me more work than if I had done the whole translation myself" (12 February 1873). - Slightly wrinkled and slight edge damage. Recipient's note to upper margin. Not in: Marx/Engels, Werke vol. 33 (Briefe Juli 1870 - Dezember 1874).
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).
56 volumes (vols. I-L in 51 volumes and 5 volumes of indices). Contemporary red/purple half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spines gilt. (With:) Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. London: Edward Stanford, 1857-1878. Vols. I-XXII. Contemporary red/purple half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spines gilt. (And:) Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography. London: Edward Stanford, 1879-1892. Vols. I-XIV. Title to first volume torn and laid down, map and facing p. 664 of text damaged. Contemporary red/purple half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spines gilt. (And:) Supplementary Papers of the Royal Geographical Society. London: John Murray, 1886-1890. Vols. I-IV. Contemporary red/purple half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spines gilt. (And:) The Geographical Journal including the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. London: R.G.S., 1893-1948. Vols. I-CXII only (in 109 volumes). Vols. 1-28: contemporary red/purple half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spines gilt; vols. 29-112: original blue cloth, or contemporary cloth, gilt. Institutional bookplates to some pastedowns; blindstamps to some title-pages; ink stamps to some plates and maps. Complete set of all periodical publications of the Royal Geographical Society 1831 through 1948, comprising 203 volumes with thousands of plates and maps, many folding. - Founded in 1830, the Royal Geographical Society spearheaded efforts to accurately map and describe every corner of the known world. As lesser-known regions of the globe such as Africa and the Middle East began to emerge as major centres of global trade in the 19th century, the Society funded thousands of European expeditions to these areas in an effort to promote British commercial and scientific interests. Explorers of the Arabian Peninsula such as Henry St. John Philby (aka "Sheikh Abdullah"), Percy Cox, Theodore Bent, Gertrude Bell, Wilfred Thesiger (aka "Mubarak bin London"), and Bertram Thomas all reported directly to the Royal Geographical Society, and their accounts, often with accompanying maps, contributed enormously to the western interest in the economy and geography of these regions. Macro's "Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula" - the only major attempt to date to itemize the most important publications on the Arab World - draws heavily on the papers published in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, especially for 19th century descriptions of the Arabian Gulf and its inhabitants. - Collected here is the entire run of publications issued by the Royal Geographical Society up to the mid-20th century - a full 203 volumes containing thousands of seminal articles, plates, and maps chronicling the modern mapping of the world. Its importance for the Arabian Peninsula is well-reflected in Macro's bibliography. Wilson's 1833 "Memorandum Respecting the Pearl Fisheries in the Persian Gulf", James Wellsted's "Observations on the Coast of Arabia between Rás Mohammed and Jiddah" (1836), and Felix Haig's "Memoirs of the Southeast Coast of Arabia" (1839) are among the earliest reports on those regions. Georg Wallin delivered a valuable report on the Hajj to the Society in 1854 in his "Narrative of a Journey from Cairo to Medina and Mecca"; William Palgrave is today regarded as one of the most important European explorers of the Peninsula, and his "Observations made in Central, Eastern and Southern Arabia, 1862-3" is found in the 1864 volume of the Journal. A lesser-known figure is Lewis Pelly, who in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society (1863) delivered a remarkably prescient lecture, "On the Geographical Capabilities of the Persian Gulf as an Area of Trade" - highlighting the future importance of the tribes and territories of the Gulf as global commercial centres, from Kuwait down to the coasts mainly controlled by "Arab pirates". He also contributed "A Visit to the Wahabee Capital, Central Arabia" (1865) - a fascinating, early account of Riyadh. - The 1890s saw a spurt of accounts of the Gulf in the Journal by Theodore Bent including "The Bahrein Islands, in the Persian Gulf" (1890), "Expedition to the Hadhramaut" (1894), and "Exploration of the Frankincense Country, Southern Arabia" (1895). Also of note was an important study of the historical importance of Gulf ports such as Bahrain, discussed in Arthur Stiffe's 1897 article "Ancient Trading Centres of the Persian Gulf". From this point on contributions on the Peninsula become too numerous to list: among them are Frank Clemow's "A Visit to the Rock-Tombs of Medain Salih and the Southern Section of the Hejaz Railway" (1913); Sir Percy Cox's "Overland Journey to Maskat from the Persian Gulf" (1902) and his fascinating account of Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, "The Wahabi King" (1928); Gertrude Bell's "A Journey in Northern Arabia" (1914); Lees's "The Physical Geography of Southeastern Arabia" (1928); Holt's "The Future of the North Arabian Desert" (1923); Harry St. John Philby's "Account of Explorations in the Great South Desert of Arabia" (1933); Cheesman's description of the Arabian coastline between Qatar and Bahrain, "From Oqair [Al Uqair] to the ruins of Salwa" (1923); Bertram Thomas's "A Journey into the Rub' al-Khali" (1931) and "The Southeastern Borderlands of the Rub' al-Khali" (1929); Lees's "The Physical Geography of Southeastern Arabia" (1928); and Cochrane's early aerial surveys of Southern Arabia ("Air Reconaissance of the Hadhramaut", 1931). We also find several papers by R. E. Leachman - "the second Lawrence", murdered in Iraq in 1920 - including his "Journey Across Arabia" (1913) and "A Journey through Central Arabia" (1914). Wilfred Thesiger, who drew attention to the borderlands between present day UAE and Oman, contributed "A New Journey in Southern Arabia" (1946); "Journey through the Tihama, the Asir and the Hijaz Mountains" (1948); and "Across the Empty Quarter" (1948) to the Journal, and we also find K. C. Jordan's "adjustments" to Thesiger's map of Southeastern Arabia in Vol. 111 (1948).
4to (180 x 260 mm). Arabic manuscript on oriental paper. 190 leaves. 20 lines of unvocalized black naskh in black and occasional red ink. Numbering of quires partially preserved in the upper left corner, foliation and part of the claims subsequent to the copy, numerous marginal glosses. Later coloured paper boards with leather spine and fore-edge flap. The earliest surviving textual witness, copied during the author's lifetime from his lost autograph, of what is the first and still the most popular Hanafi text on legal distinctions: the "Kitab al-furuq" by Abu al-Muzaffar As'ad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Nisaburi al-Karabisi al-Hanafi (d. 1174/75). Composed in the 6th century AH, most likely in Samarkand, where the author was living at the time (cf. Saba, pp. 71, 204), this is the only text on furuq (legal distinctions) to have been composed in that century and is also important as the first work on the subject in the Hanafi Madhhab. Several manuscripts of it are preserved (Cairo, Dar al-Kutub, 292 fiqh hanafi, undated; Cairo, Dar al-Kutub, 293 fiqh hanafi, dated 622 H [1224/25 CE]; Istanbul, Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi, Fatih 2039, dated 776 H [1374/75 CE]; Istanbul, Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi, Carullah 821, 1007 H [1598/99 CE]). - The present manuscript is of major importance as the oldest surviving manuscript of this text. The colophon provides the date of completion of the copy, Sunday, 11th of the month of Rabi I 569 H (20 October 1173), as well as the name of the copyist, Muhammad b. Hibatallah b. Muhammad b. Hibatallah b. Ahmad b. Abi Jarada. The colophon further states that the copyist prepared the manuscript for his personal use by collating the text (balagha) against the autograph, which is not preserved for us. - The scribe can be identified as a calligrapher who belonged to a powerful family of Aleppine intellectuals, the Banu'l-Abi Jarada, a Sunni family of the Hanafi rite (cf. James, p. 354). While no other manuscript in his hand is known to survive, he is referenced in the oldest dated manuscript of al-Hariri's "Maqamat". This codex, which bears an ijaza of al-Hariri dated Sha'ban 504 H (February 1111 CE), belonged to his first cousin, the famous historian and jurist, Kamal al-Din Abu 'Umar b. Ahmad b. Abi Jarada, known as Ibn al-'Adim. A reading mark dated 17 Jumada II 604 H (8 January 1208 CE) attests to the presence of our scribe in Aleppo and to his involvement in the literate circles of the time (on the subject of the manuscript and the reading mark, see MacKay, p. 22). He is later traced in Süleyman Müstakimzade's biographical dictionary of calligraphers, which states that Muhammad b. Hibatallah Abi Jarada was known to work in the manner of the great calligrapher Ibn al-Bawwab and copied an entire Qur'an during each month of Ramadan (Tuhfe-i hattatin [Istanbul, 1928], p. 464). He is said to have died in 628 H (1230/31 CE) at the age of 82. - Binding rubbed and chipped; sewing loosened. Restored in the 19th century, notably the first leaf, with several remarginings and an added table of contents. Provenance: from the collection of Paul Lebaudy (1858-1937), with the bookplate of his library at the Château de Rosny "La Solitude". The Château de Rosny is the former property of the Duchess of Berry. GAL I, 375 (464) & S I, 642. Cf. Elias G. Saba, Harmonizing Similarities. A History of Distinctions Literature in Islamic Law (Berlin, 2009). David James, "Qur'ans and Calligraphers of the Ayyubids and Zangids", in: Robert Hillenbrand and Sylvia Auld (eds.), Ayyubid Jerusalem. The Holy City in Context, 1187-1250 (London 2009). Pierre MacKay, "Certificates of Transmission on a Manuscript of the Maqamat of Hariri (MS. Cairo, Adab 105)", in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society NS 61, no. 4 (1971).
Oblong 8vo (17 x 11 cm). An exceedingly rare vintage blue ink signature, in Chinese characters, inscribed to the verso of a printed invitation to a Buffet Party hosted by the China-Latin America Friendship Association at the Xinqiao Fandian (Hotel) on Thursday, 27 October 1960 at 6.30 pm, "in order to kindly see off the cultural friendship delegations of Latin American countries". Chinese text printed in red on off-white paper. Encapsulated. A fine signature obtained during a 1960 Buffet Party in honour of Latin American communists, held at Beijing's Xinqiao Hotel and attended by Mao Zedong. The China-Latin America Friendship Association, who hosted the venue, was established in Beijing earlier that same year, in March 1960, and soon became the general fortress of cultural infiltration into Latin America. The U.S. diplomat Roy R. Rubottom Jr., who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (1957-60), noted that, also in 1960, Mao Zedong appeared to have "gone out of his way" to receive Latin American Communist leaders and to exhort them to give their full backing to the kind of revolution he favoured. The following year, the Xinqiao Hotel would be the site of a major conference hosted by Zhou Enlai, who there encouraged intellectuals and cultural activists to start work again. - Following the end of World War II, the Communist movement was flourishing in Latin America, and as early as 1947 Mao Zedong was prompted to remark that "the Latin American peoples are not the obedient slaves of United States Imperialism". Chairman Mao and the Chinese communists' goal was the defeat of United States Imperialism, and Latin America was regarded as vital to attaining this goal, as it supported Mao Zedong’s theory of the establishment of rural revolutionary base areas. Chinese interest and activities in Latin America increased sharply in the early 1950s (there were believed to be 250,000 card-carrying communists active in the area), and the countries were of considerable interest to the Chinese and viewed as a fertile ground for advancing Communism, not least Red China's own brand of the ideology. - Some very light overall soiling to both sides, barely affecting the signature. An attractive example of one of the rarest and most sought-after autographs of all major political leaders and cultural icons of the 20th century. PSA/DNA certified, authentic autograph 84503553, and encapsulated. LOA certification number AF07300.
8vo. ½ page on laid paper, torn from a notebook, watermark "Joyn[son] Super[fine]". Measures 181:114 mm. Unpublished letter to the Chartist and radical freethinker Collet Dobson Collet (1812-98), in English: "My dear Sir, On my return from the seaside I found your letter d.d. 23 September. You will much oblige me by being so kind as to forward me some of the copies of the 'Revelations', as I have none left. Yours very truly [...]". - In very good condition, with intersecting folds, moderate wrinkling and a few creases; the sheet is bright, the writing dark, precise, and easily legible in spite of Marx's distinctively minute hand. - Marx was a close friend of the Collet family, which included the pioneering feminist activist Sophia Dobson Collet, social reformer Clara Collet, and the recipient of this letter, the editor of "The Free Press: A Diplomatic Review", to which Marx contributed a number of articles. The men became good friends and soon held weekly meetings at each other's houses to recite Shakespeare. The assembled group, which was formally coined as the Dogberry Club, included Marx's daughter Eleanor and Collet's daughter Clara, as well as Edward Rose, Dollie Radford, Sir Henry Juta, and Friedrich Engels. The publication to which Marx alludes, "Revelations of the Diplomatic History of the 18th Century", was originally serialized in the "Free Press" from August 1856 to April 1857. Not in: Marx/Engels, Werke vol. 34 (Briefe Januar 1875 - Dezember 1880).
8vo. 2 ff. on 2 pp. In red crayon. In Russian, to his nine-year-old daughter Svetlana: "Hello, little lady of the house! I am sending you pomegranates, tangerines, and candied fruit. Eat - and enjoy, my little lady of the house. There's nothing for Vasja because he is still doing poorly at school and keeps making empty promises. Explain to him that I do not trust long-winded promises and shall believe him only when he really applies himself and delivers a performance that can be called at least middle-rate. I report, dear lady of the house, that I spent a day in Tbilisi. I was visiting [my] mother and said many greetings from you and from Vasja. She is tolerably well and sends you many kisses. That's all for now. Kisses. I shall be seeing you soon. / Secretary to Svetlana - poor paterfamilias, J. Stalin". Svetlana Iosifovna (Stalina) Alliluyeva, born in Moscow in 1926, died in Richland Center, Wisconsin, USA, in 2011. - Traces of horizontal folds; very well preserved. Includes: portrait photograph of Stalin (vintage). Probably Moscow, ca. 1935. Albumen print, 209 x 269 mm, mounted on backing cardboard (298 x 400 mm). A large head-and-shoulders portrait, likely taken shortly before the beginning of the Great Purges. With a few unobtrusive scuff marks; backing cardboard smudged and stained. Russian lab label on reverse: "Foto-Laboratorija, U.P.P. Leningradskogo Otdelenija, Muzfonda SSSR, Leningrad. Lenoblgorlit No. 1094". Rare.
4to (180 × 240 mm). Arabic manuscript on cream paper. Two books, each with 10 chapters or Maqalahs, bound in one volume. (614) leaves, lacking one leaf from Book 2 (Maqalah 8, Bab 23) and another leaf from Book 2 (Maqalah 10, Bab 23) replaced in 19th century manuscript facsimile. 21 lines, per extensum, written in black naskh, chapter headings and important sections in red, catchwords throughout, each of the 20 chapters with an index of the ‘bab’ within and each with a separate colophon. Later brown lacquered leather over pasteboards, faintly pressed central medallions to covers, rebacked. One of the few existing complete copies of this medical milestone. Exceptionally rare: a fundamental medical work from the Golden Age of Islamic scholarship, preceding and influencing Avicenna's Qanun. Monumentally influential not only in Islamic medicine, this work even had profound impact in the West. It was first translated into Latin by Constantinus Africanus in the 11th century for use as a primary text at Salerno's medical school, and then again in 1127 by Stephen of Antioch. By the 14th century knowledge of the work was so widespread that Al-Majusi is mentioned as one of antiquity's great medical scholars in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. - The text is divided into two distinct books, each of which comprise ten "maqalas" (sections), subdivided into "babs" (chapters). The first section deals with the theory of medicine, including anatomical structures and they body's physiology; the second examines the practical treatment of medicine, the application of medical treatments and surgery. Indeed, this is the earliest known Arabic medical work to provide detailed instructions on surgical procedure. - Ali ibn al-Abbas al-Majusi was a 10th century Persian physician and psychologist, known in the Latin tradition as "Hali Abbas". Born in Ahvaz in southwest Persia, he was perhaps the most celebrated physician in the Eastern Caliphate of the Buwayhid dynasty, becoming physician royal to Emir 'Abdul al-Daula Fana Khusraw (reigned 949-983). The present treatise was compiled under the patronage of Emir Khusraw and is therefore also known as "Al-Malikiyya" ("The Royal Book"). Emir Khusraw founded a hospital in Shiraz and the al-Adudi Hospital in Baghdad to show his support for medical science, and Al-Majusi probably worked at the latter around 981 CE, where he must have composed this, his chief work. He is thought to have died in either 990 or 1010 CE. - The manuscript was produced for a wealthy and important patron in 16th century Persia, written on fine paper by a single scribe who names himself as Salam'ullah bin Habib'ullah bin Muhammad in colophons at the end of the various sections. Many of these colophons also record the date of their completion, showing that the entire codex took two years to produce. - Complete manuscript copies of this text are exceptionally rare: its vast encyclopedic nature made it an expensive commodity in the Middle Ages, and its sheer size usually necessitated it to span several volumes. The present example appears to have been bound as two separate books at the time of copying before being joined together in a single large volume in the 19th century. - Edges a little scuffed; some very minor marginal staining to a few sections, occasional light mottling. A few outer edges repaired (only affecting the text of two leaves). Overall a very clean and attractive specimen. Provenance: sold at Sotheby’s, Arts of the Islamic World sale, 23 October 2019, lot 119 (described without mention of the facsimile leaves).