A. Asher & Co. B.V.

Quae exstant omnia, diligentissime emendata, et cum optimis editionibus collata, ut ex praefatione manifestum.Padua, Giuseppe Comino, 1736. 8vo. With engraved device on title-page, 5 woodcuts in text and woodcut arms above the colophon. Contemporary richly gold-tooled morocco (goatskin), each board with a large centre-piece in a panel design, gilt and gauffered edges, traces of clasps.

MACROBIUS, Theodosius Ambrosius. · 1737

€1,250.00 ($1,377.73 | £1,042.83 | ¥220,005)

XXXIX, [1], 640, 85, [2], [1 blank] pp.Collected works of the Roman author Macrobius, active in the fifth century, in contemporary richly gold-tooled morocco. "The basis is the text of Gronovius, … The notes of Pontanus and Obsopoeus are added, with an account … of the use of...

Behandeling van 't kamp-regt; d'aaloude en opperste regts-vordering voor 't hof van Holland, onder de eerste graaven.Delft, Andries Voorstad, 1702. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece and 7 full-page engraved plates (frontispiece and first 3 plates (partly) colored by hand). Contemporary vellum.

ALKEMADE, Kornelis van. · 1699

€400.00 ($440.87 | £333.71 | ¥70,402)

[22], 236 pp.Second (but first illustrated) edition of this well-known work on medieval legal claiming (Rechtsvordering) and justice by means of duels and single combats. It is partly a re-issue - quire A-O - of the first edition of 1699 with the same Delft publisher. Only the...

[Portrait of a man in traditional Arab garb].Tripoli, 1914. Oil on canvas (51 x 40.5 cm), with artist's name, place and date on the back.

WILLIAMS, E.M., R.A.

€6,500.00 ($7,164.18 | £5,422.73 | ¥1,144,027)

Attractive painting of a man in traditional Arab garb in Tripoli, by one E.M. Williams from the Royal Academy of Arts.

Deductie gedaan ... uit den name ende van wegens bewindhebberen van de Oost-Indische Compagnie ter kamer Amsterdam, eerst requiranten van appoinctement van anticipatie, en nu gedaagdens by mandament van revisie, ter eenre, op ende jegens Aaltje Fransse, weduwe van Cornelis Canter, Jan Canter, en Hendrik van Greuningen, als in huwelyk hebbende Anna Canter, zeggende te zyn moeder, broeder, en zwager respective, van Frans Canter, alle wonende te Amsterdam, ...[Amsterdam, 1752]. Folio (31.5 x 20.5 cm). Side-stitched.With: (2) Missive van de bewindhebberen van de generale Neederlandsche geoctroyeerde Oostindische Compagnie ter vergadering van Seeventienen.[Amsterdam, 1758]. Folio (33 x 21 cm). Side-stitched.

[CANTER, Frans (subject)]. · 1746

€3,500.00 ($3,857.64 | £2,919.93 | ¥616,015)

28, [1 blank], [1]; 13, [3 blank] pp.Rare first and only edition of a legal injunction against the mother, father and brother-in-law of Frans Canter, manager of the VOC (Dutch East India Company) factory at Basra in southern Iraq from 1746 to 1750, who upon a summons to Batavi...

Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf durch den Hauran, die Syrische Wüste und Mesopotamien.Berlin, Dietrich Reimer, 1899-1900. 2 volumes. Large 8vo. With 2 (of 3) folding maps in pockets on the inside of the back board and numerous illustrations in the text and on photographic plates. Original illustrated green cloth.

OPPENHEIM, Max von. · 1893

€8,500.00 ($9,368.55 | £7,091.26 | ¥1,496,036)

XV, [1], 334; [1], 434 pp.First edition of an account of travels through the Middle East in 1893, from Beirut and Damascus via Hauran (southwest Syria, then in Ottoman hands) including al-Harra and al-Safa to Palmyra and through the Syrian desert to Bagdad, the Gulf and Muscat...

Voyage de l'Arabie Pétrée.Paris, Giard (colophon: printed by the Imprimerie Normale/Jules Didot l'ainé), 1830[-1834]. Royal 1mo (42 x 59.5 cm). With a lithographic title page (with a large lithographed title vignette separately printed on "India" paper and mounted on the title page) and lithographed coat of arms of the dedicatee Wilhelm II of Hesse printed directly on dedication leaf, 69 lithographed plates (3 double-page and 1 larger folding) showing views, maps and plans after Laborde and Linant de Bellefonds, most separately printed on "India" paper and mounted on the leaves. With 1 zoological plate (of a marmot and young: "El Oueber") subtly coloured as published. Period-style half calf with gilt title to spine.

LABORDE, Léon Emmanuel Simon Joseph de. · 1828

€45,000.00 ($49,598.19 | £37,541.97 | ¥7,920,190)

First edition of "an important work" (Blackmer) of a stunning and beautifully illustrated account of some of the earliest explorations in the Sinai, southern Jordan and northwest Arabia, complete with all the magnificent views in extremely large format, the double-page plates ...

Dagwyzer der geschiedenissen ... Benevens de geboorte, en sterfdagen, van hooge, en laage stands persoonen ... [Amsterdam, (frontispiece:) 1778]. Narrow 8vo (16.5 x 9.5 cm). Manuscript in brown ink on laid paper, written in Dutch in a neat and clear but minute Latin hand, forming a calendar of historical events from 17 CE to 28 November 1777, with a grey ink and ink-wash allegorical frontispiece title, dated 1778 but signed by the artist "A:C. 1777.", and a title page in 8 styles of plain and decorated Latin and gothic lettering. Contemporary richly gold-tooled red goatskin morocco, the spine with a green morocco label, gold-tooled turn-ins and board edges. Bound by the so-called "Rocaille-and-flower bindery" (Storm van Leeuwen).

DYLIUS, Joannes (compiler). · 1579

€4,950.00 ($5,455.80 | £4,129.62 | ¥871,221)

[8 blank], [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], [187], [9 blank] pp. including frontispiece.A beautifully produced manuscript, probably prepared for publication but apparently never published, listing more than a thousand events of historical importance (including the birth and dea...

Copia de una carta que ha escrito desde la ciudad de Argel el padre procurador Fray Antonio de Espinosa, religioso calzado del Orden de la Santissima Trinidad, redencion de cautivos, y administrador de los cinco reales hospitales, que su sagrada religion tiene en aquella ciudad.(Colophon: Madrid, Sebastian de Armendariz), 12 October [1688]. Small 4to (19 x 14 cm). With a large woodcut initial with a parrot. Disbound.

ESPINOSA, Antonio de. · 1688

€2,500.00 ($2,755.46 | £2,085.66 | ¥440,011)

6 ll.Very rare first and only early edition of a letter written by the Spanish friar Antonio de Espinosa at Algiers, after the city had been bombed by the French navy in 1688. Espinosa worked as an administrator at the hospitals of the Trinitarian Order in the city. He describ...

The book of the thousand nights and a night[:] a plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments.With: (2) BURTON, Richard F. Supplemental nights.(3) BURTON, Richard F. [Autograph manuscript book review of an 1881 Panchatantra edition].(Colophons:) U.S.A. [Boston, MA?], The Burton Club, [ca. 1940]. 16 volumes (incl. 6 supplements). 8vo. With an original manuscript leaf written by Burton (with the manuscript heading: "Proof to Sir R.F.B. Hotel des Bains, Aigle, Canton Vaud, Switzerland" and a note “Long Primer Pressig.”) and each volume with a different frontispiece in two states (coloured and uncoloured). Contemporary richly gold-blocked green morocco, boards with Arabic script in gold, spine with raised bands, gold-tooled turn-ins, marbled pastedowns.

BURTON, Richard F. · 1940

€25,000.00 ($27,554.55 | £20,856.65 | ¥4,400,106)

The so-called “manuscript edition” of Richard Burton's celebrated translation of Alf Laylah Wa-Laylah, commonly known in English as the Arabian Nights. These Arabic tales, cherished in Europe since the early 18th century, are often erotic in content, and in Burton's unexpurgat...

[Bedouin falconer].[Morocco, 1920s]. Oil on wooden panel (21 x 16 cm), signed at the lower left "Henri Rousseau". Contemporary gilded wooden frame (33 x 28 cm).

ROUSSEAU, Henri-Émilien. · 1875

€28,000.00 ($30,861.10 | £23,359.45 | ¥4,928,118)

Colourful panel painting by the leading orientalist painter Henri-Émilien Rousseau of a mounted Bedouin falconer, one of Rousseau's favourite subjects. While the sport of falconry was an important status symbol in the Middle East and Europe generally, for the Bedouins it was a...

[Photographs, mostly of Egypt].[Egypt and elsewhere], [ca. 1860-ca. 1914]. With 9 carte de visite albumen prints (ca. 8.5 x 5.5 cm) by Hammerschmidt and Van Lint, two albumen prints (9.5 x 12.5 cm) by Sébah mounted on paper, one silver gelatin print (8.5 x 11.5 cm) by Lehnert & Landrock and one silver gelatin print (27 x 21 cm) by Schroeder & Cie in a passepartout.

SEBAH, Pascal, LEHNERT & LANDROCK, Wilhelm HAMMERSCHMIDT, SCHROEDER & Cie and Enrico VAN LINT. · 1830

€1,950.00 ($2,149.25 | £1,626.82 | ¥343,208)

Collection of early photographs of North-Africa and the Middle East by several photographers who had worked in the region. The main part of this collection consists of carte de visite portraits by Wilhelm Hammerschmidt (ca. 1830-1869), from the 1860s. Most of them show Egyptia...

Abbeokoeta; of de dageraad tusschen de keerkringen: eene schets van het ontstaan en den vooruitgang der zending in Yorriba. Uit het Engelsch naar den vijfden druk vertaald, en tot op den jongsten tijd bijgewerkt.Amsterdam, H. Höveker (back of half-title: for the "Vereeniging ter bevordering van Christelijke lectuur"), 1860. 12mo. With chromolithographed frontispiece, 3 lithographed maps (2 double-page and 1 folding), 1 chromolithographed plate and 8 wood-engraved plates. Contemporary half cloth.

[TUCKER, Charlotte Maria] and Theodorus Matthijs LOOMAN. · 1821

€800.00 ($881.75 | £667.41 | ¥140,803)

[2], VIII, [2], 330, [5], [1 blank] pp.First and only edition of the expanded Dutch translation of Abbeokuta, or Sunrise within the tropics by Charlotte Maria Tucker (1821-1893), translated and expanded by Theodorus Matthijs Looman (1816-1900). It is a description of Yorubalan...

[Prominent Ottoman and entourage boarding boats before the Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque].[Istanbul?, ca. 1830/50?]. Watercolour drawing on wove paper (29.5 x 45 cm) with highlights in shellac and a thin black border. Mounted on a larger sheet of paper in a passe-partout.

[ISTANBUL]. [KING, Helena Caroline or Adelaide Charlotte]. · 1580

€8,500.00 ($9,368.55 | £7,091.26 | ¥1,496,036)

A lively scene on the Tophane Quay in Istanbul, with the background dominated by the dome and minaret of the 1580 Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque. The tip of a second minaret, perhaps from a different mosque, is visible in the distance. On the quay, an opulently dressed black-bearded O...

A souk in Cairo.Cairo, 1902. Signed and inscribed "C. Wuttke. Cairo. 1902". Oil on canvas board (20 x 28 cm). Unframed.

[CAIRO]. WUTTKE, Carl. · 1849

€5,000.00 ($5,510.91 | £4,171.33 | ¥880,021)

Painting of a souk in Cairo, by the German orientalist Carl Wuttke (1849-1927). Paintings such as these were made to be reproduced as picture postcards, an archetypal consumer product from the early 20th century. Postcards, as a convenient alternative to the letter, had first ...

Chronica do muyto alto e muyto poderoso Rey destes reynos de Portugal Dom João o III deste nome, ...Coimbra, Real officina da universidade, 1796. 4 volumes. 4to. With a woodcut royal Portuguese coat of arms on title-page of each volume. Contemporary plain paper wrappers.

ANDRADA, Francisco d'. · 1502

€2,500.00 ($2,755.46 | £2,085.66 | ¥440,011)

VIII, I-XV, [1 blank], 385, [1 blank]; [4], XIX, [1 blank], 565 [=465], [1 blank]; [4], XX, 452;Second edition of an extensive history of the reign of King João (John) III of Portugal (1502-1557), written by Francisco d'Andrada (1540-1614). During his rule, Portuguese possessi...

[Drop-title:] Breve ragguaglio di quanto è accaduto in Roma à Sig: Mandarini venuti co[n] il P: Guido Tasciard della compagnia di Giesù, inviato straordinario dal rè di Siam dopo l'Udienza hauuta da N.S. Innocenzo XI.(Colophon: Rome, Domenico Antonio Ercole, 1689). Small 4to (21.5 x 15.5 cm). With decorated woodcut initial on the first page. Disbound.

[TACHARD, Guy]. · 1651

€3,800.00 ($4,188.29 | £3,170.21 | ¥668,816)

8 pp.Very rare first and only edition in the original Italian, of a pamphlet detailing the visit of the Siamese embassy to Rome, under de guidance of the Jesuit Guy Tachard, where they would meet with Pope Innocent XI.The French Jesuit missionary Guy Tachard (1651-1712) was se...

Vita, e morte del venerabil P. F. Alipio di S. Giuseppe Scalzo di S. Agostino Palermitano della congregazione d'Italia, in odio della confessione della S. Fede di Giesù Cristo, crudelissimamente ucciso da' Turchi di Barberia, nella città di Tripoli, a 17 di febbraio l'anno 1645 ...Rome, Ignatio de' Lazzari, 1657. 4to. With 3 engraved plates. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment.

MAGGIO, Francesco Maria. · 1617

€3,500.00 ($3,857.64 | £2,919.93 | ¥616,015)

[40], 24, [4], 25-234, [2 blank] pp.Rare first and only edition of the biography of the Augustinian friar Alipio de Luca di San Giuseppe (1617-1645) from Palermo, by Francesco Maria Maggio (1612-1686), an Italian missionary in the Middle East.Ottoman pirates captured Alipio's ...

[Souvenir album with photographs of the Holy Land, Cairo, Athens and Venice].[Palestine, Cairo, Athens, Venice, ca. 1890]. Oblong album (41.5 x 31 cm) containing 62 albumen prints, mostly 23 x 28 cm, with 2 smaller prints of ca. 16 x 28 and 5 large prints of 35.5 x 27 cm. Most of the photographs are numbered and captioned in French, and sometimes also in English, on the negative. Contemporary brown half morocco.

BONFILS, G. LEKEGIAN & CO, Brothers ZANGAKI, Collection MERLIN and Carlo NAYA. · 1890

€9,500.00 ($10,470.73 | £7,925.53 | ¥1,672,040)

[59], [11 blank] pp.Interesting photo album, probably compiled as a souvenir of a journey through the Holy Land, Egypt, Athens and Venice in the 1890s. Complete souvenir albums were sold by photographer's studios and dealers alike. However, the fact that the current album has ...

Abbildungen Herzoglich-Braunschweigischer Gestüt-Pferde … 1tes Heft.Braunschweig, 1827-1828. Oblong 1mo (47.5 x 63 cm). First instalment of 6 lithographed plates of horses, plus 1 additional lithographed view, all beautifully coloured by a contemporary hand with highlights in gum arabic, and including two with the captions and artist’s name in manuscript. All loosely preserved in a proof state of the original publisher's lithographed paper wrappers, including a list of plates. Preserved in a modern portfolio.

PIRSCHER, Karl Dietrich. · 1804

€75,000.00 ($82,663.65 | £62,569.95 | ¥13,200,316)

Beautifully hand-coloured proof states, with occasional additions in ink, of the very rare first instalment of a series of prints of the Duke of Braunschweig's (1804-1873) stud horses, plus an additional view of the Harzburg stud farm not included in the list of plates printed...

[Binding title:] Peines [et] supplices.[France/Belgium, early 20th century]. 4to (23.5 x 20 cm). Album containing 24 small contact prints and 153 albumen or gelatin silver prints, 16 photographic reproductions of paintings or drawings, 2 albumen prints of nudes and 17 silver gelatin prints of sadomasochistic scenes. Contemporary black cloth, with the title ("H. Rabier - peines - supplices") on the spine.

[PHOTOGRAPHY – EROTICA – SADOMASOCHISM]. RABIER, Hector (compiler).

€15,000.00 ($16,532.73 | £12,513.99 | ¥2,640,063)

[52 pp.]Captivating erotic photo album containing both original photographs and reproductions on the themes of "punishment and penance", which in most cases means flagellation. This specific album was probably compiled by a certain H[ector] Rabier, whose name is inscribed on t...