A. Asher & Co. B.V.

Reis naar de noord-west kust van Amerika. Gedaan in de jaren 1785, 1786, 1787 en 1788.Amsterdam, Matthijs Schalekamp, 1795. 4to. With folding engraved map (34.5 x 46 cm) showing the routes of the ships King George and Queen Charlotte, 1 plate with engraved music and 8 folding engraved plates (last plate partly hand-coloured). Modern red half leather.

PORTLOCK, Nathaniel. · 1800

€2,750.00 ($3,031.00 | £2,294.23 | ¥484,012)

XII, [4], 265, [1] pp.First edition of the Dutch translation of Portlock's account of "the first commercial voyage to the northwest coast [of America] and the first English voyage to visit Hawaii after that of Captain James Cook" (Forbes). The object of the voyage was to trade...

[Crown Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia].[London, 1935]. Matt silver print (ca. 28 x 36 cm), watercolour, pastel, gouache and oil paint. Mounted on paper in a passe-partout. Signed "Lafayette" in pencil on the mount. In a wooden frame (ca. 53 x 64 cm), under glass.

[PHOTOGRAPH - HAND COLOURED]. LAFAYETTE STUDIO. · 1902

€35,000.00 ($38,576.37 | £29,199.31 | ¥6,160,148)

Impressively coloured photographic portrait of the Saudi crown prince Saud (1902-1969), by the eminent London photographic studio Lafayette. Prince Saud, the future King Saud of Saudi Arabia, had been appointed crown prince in 1933 and fought in the 1934 war against Yemen. Aft...

[Military and quasi-military uniforms, portraits and scenes of battles, uprisings etc.].[Austria or Saxony?, ca. 1870?]. Large folio album (39 x 30.5 cm). With 84 large watercolour drawings (28 x 16 cm to 25.5 x 36 cm) on wove paper, with captions in German and/or French, mounted on the (ca. 1962) album leaves, and with the coat of arms of Von Lindeman(n) of Sachsen-Anhalt (in coloured gouaches plus gold) mounted on the first page. Early 20th-century(?) half tanned sheepskin.

[MILITARY UNIFORMS]. · 1631

€35,000.00 ($38,576.37 | £29,199.31 | ¥6,160,148)

[44] album ll.An extraordinary set of original watercolour drawings, apparently unpublished, celebrating the creation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire through the military events that led up to it and the uniforms of the various nations and regiments involved. Except for one dra...

Rerum geographicarum libri XVII.Paris, typis Regiis [Fédéric Morel], 1620. 2 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With title-page printed in red and black with the engraved coat of arms of Louis XIII, and several woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Contemporary gold-tooled parchment, gilt edges.

STRABO. · 1559

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

[12], 843, [112]; [4], 282, [8] pp.Enlarged and corrected second edition of Strabo's Geographika including the notes by the French scholar Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614): one of the earliest and most important scientific treatises on historical geography. It contains the Greek tex...

Reis ter ontdekking van eene noordwestelijke doorvaart, uit de Atlantische in de Stille Zee, gedaan in de jaren 1819 en 1820 door de schepen The Hecla en The Griper...Amsterdam, Johannes van der Hey, 1822. 8vo. With engraved title-page, 1 large folding map and 3 plates (2 folding). Contemporary half calf.

PARRY, William Edward. · 1790

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

XII, 333, [2], [1 blank] pp.First edition of the Dutch translation of Parry's account of his voyage in search of the Northwest Passage. Having sailed to the Arctic under John Ross, the English naval officer William Edward Parry (1790-1855) believed that Lancaster Sound could p...

[Letter, signed, to Nicolò Caragiani in Venice concerning the trading conditions in Cairo for different woolen and silk fabrics].Cairo, 22 October 1732. Manuscript letter in Italian, opening with a duplicate of an earlier letter, in a different hand, dated 26 September 1732, written in ink on one page of a bifolium originally folded 4 more times for sending (to 8.5 x 14 cm) with the address on one side and traces of a red wax on the other.

[AUTOGRAPH]. [PETEA(?)], Michiel. · 1732

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

Letter in Italian concerning the cloth trade in the capital of Egypt during the last months of 1732. The letter is addressed to the Italian merchant Nicolò Caragiani in Venice, who actively traded with the Levant and correspondence with several other merchants survives. The pr...

[Three letters to Ferrante Gonzaga, Viceroy of Sicily, two from Pedro Alvarez de Toledo and one from his wife Maria Osorio y Pimentel].Andria (in the Kingdom of Naples), 13 August to 10 September 1539. Comprising:(1) Letter in Italian, signed, from Pedro Alvarez de Toledo in Andria to Ferrante Gonzaga, 13 August 1539, with a 2.3 cm seal bearing Alvarez de Toledo’s coat of arms (with a chain of flags) stamped on a slip of paper attached with red wax.(2) Letter in Spanish, signed, from Pedro Alvarez de Toledo in Andria to Ferrante Gonzaga, 3 September 1539, with the 4.5 cm imperial armorial seal stamped on a slip of paper attached with red wax.(3) Letter in Italian, signed, from Maria Osorio y Pimentel [in Andria] to Ferrante Gonzaga, 10 September 1539, with the remains of what appears to be her husband’s 2.3 cm red wax seal.Folio (21.5 x 30 cm). Each letter, in brown ink, occupies one page, with the last page containing the address and the sender’s seal. The two inside pages of the second and third letter are blank. Each formerly folded for posting, so that the address would have appeared on one side and the seal on the other.

ALVAREZ DE TOLEDO, Pedro and Maria OSORIO Y PIMENTEL. · 1484

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

[4]; [4]; [2] pp. including blanks.Three letters from Pedro Alvarez de Toledo (1484-1553), Duke of Alba and councillor to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and his wife Maria Osorio y Pimentel (1498-1539) to Ferrante Gonzaga (1507-1557), Viceroy of Sicily, who commanded the im...

Ratificatio facta p[er] m[agnifi]cu[m] d[ominum] Jo[hannes] Carolu[s] de Affaytalis, in favorem m[agnifi]ci et r[everen]di d[omino]. Guidi d[e] Crema et Rafaelis Krumani p[e]r Castro S[anc]ti Laurentii et terris.Antwerp, 20 January 1546. Manuscript notarial document in Latin, written in a Latin hand on one side of a single piece of sheepskin parchment (31 x 54.5 cm), opening with a large capital and closing with the notary's decorative signature, with the title and "M. Johan Carlo" on the back. Folded and loosely inserted in a paper folder (ca. 1690s?).

AFFAITATI, Giovan Carlo (Johannes Carolus de AFFAYTADI). · 1500

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

[1] leaf.An Antwerp notarial declaration made voluntarily by Giovan Carlo Affaitati, also known as Johannes Carolus de Affaytadi (Cremona 1500 or 1510-Lier 1555 or Ghistelle 1587) soon after he moved to Antwerp, on behalf of Guido de Crema, citizen of Mantua, and Raphael Bruma...

Amsterdams Dam-praetje, van wat outs en wat nieuws en wat vreemts.Amsterdam, Jan van Soest, 1649. 4to. With woodcut illustration on title-page, repeated as tailpiece. Modern half sheepskin parchment.

[MELYN VAN DOORNINCK, Cornelis?]. · 1645

€1,750.00 ($1,928.82 | £1,459.97 | ¥308,007)

20 ll.First edition of a pamphlet criticizing the conduct of the Dutch West India Company (WIC) in Brazil, in the form of conversations between five men on Dam square in Amsterdam. It's a vehement attack on the WIC and the Dutch government concerning their strife with Portugal...

Amsterdams tafel-praetje, van wat goets en wat quaets en wat noodighs.Gouda, Jasper Cornelisz, 1649. Small 4to (20 x 14 cm). Modern half vellum.

[MELYN VAN DOORNINCK, Cornelis?].

€1,750.00 ($1,928.82 | £1,459.97 | ¥308,007)

[31], [1 blank] pp.First and only edition of a pamphlet on the strife in Brazil between the Dutch West India Company (WIC) and Portugal, in the form of a dialogue between four Dutchmen and a bartender in an Amsterdam tavern. It is one of a series of anonymous pamphlets publish...

Mémoires sur la fortification perpendiculaire.Including: GRANIER DE STE-CÉCILE, Joseph-Modeste. [drop-title:] Mémoires sur la fortification perpendiculaire. Second mémoire ou Observations sur le livre intitulé, La fortification perpendiculaire.Paris, Jean-Luc Nyon (colophon: printed by Jacques-Gabriel Clousier), 1786. Royal 4to (32 x 23.5 cm). With XVI numbered plates (all but 1 folding; with 22 numbered figures plus a 23rd unnumbered). Recased in 18th-century sheepskin parchment.

FOURCROY Charles-René de. · 1715

€900.00 ($991.96 | £750.84 | ¥158,404)

[3], [1 blank], 290, [2] pp.First and only edition of a detailed and well-illustrated manual of fortification by Charles-René Fourcroy de Ramecourt (1715-1791), Louis XVI's Maréchal de Camp and de facto head of the Corps Royal du Génie. The plates in the first memoire show wit...

Premier des magnifiques carosses de Monseigneur de le duc d'Ossuna, ambassadeur extraordinaire et premier plenipotentiaire de Sa Majesté Catholique Philippe: V. pour la paix faits pour l'entreé publique de son Excellence a Utrecht MDCCXIII.Amsterdam, Bernard Picart, 1714. Folio. Series of 7 engraved plates (including title-page and 1 double-page). 19th-century gold-tooled green morocco, richly gold-tooled spine and turn-ins, gilt edges; bound by Durvand Thivet.

PICART, Bernard. · 1713

€17,500.00 ($19,288.18 | £14,599.65 | ¥3,080,074)

Rare first and only edition of a series of prints illustrating the ornate sculptural coach used for the entry of the Duke of Osuna into the Dutch city of Utrecht in 1713, and a title-page decorated in the same style. The sixth 6th Duke of Osuna, Francisco de Paula Téllez-Girón...

Sacrum oratorium piarum imaginum immaculatae Mariae et animae creatae, ac baptismo, poenitentia, et eucharistia innovatae: ars nova bene vivendi et moriendi.Antwerp, Officina Plantiniana/Balthasar Moretus, 1634. 4to. With an engraved title page, 42 engraved plates by Charles de Mallery after Adam van Noort and Adriaan Collaert, 2 engravings in text, and 15 heart-shaped engraved emblems in text by Theodoor Galle. 19th-century gold-tooled brown morocco, gilt edges; bound by Émile Bosquet.

BIVERUS, Pierre. · 1572

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

[20], 769, [9] pp.First and only edition of a beautifully illustrated Roman Catholic emblem book, written by the Spanish Jesuit Pierre de Bivero, Latinized Biverus (1572-1656). The book is divided into three parts, closing with an appendix. The first part is devoted to the emb...

Africa.Göttingen, Johann Christian Dieterich, 1796. 8vo. Slightly later black half goatskin.

AL-IDRISI, Muhammad and Joannes Melchior HARTMANN (translator). · 1764

€4,500.00 ($4,959.82 | £3,754.20 | ¥792,019)

CXXIV, 530, [50] pp.Second edition of a Latin translation of a work on the geography of Africa, written by the Islamic geographer and botanist Muhammad al-Idrisi (1100-1165). It deals specifically with the geography of northern Africa, Egypt and the Sahara desert, covering its...

Historiae rei nummariae veteris scriptores aliquot insigniores ... Including: HOST, Matthäus. Tres libros de veteribus mensuris ... HOST, Matthäus. Quaedam opuscula variae ...[SARDI, Alessandro] (misattributed to John SELDEN). Liber de nummis ...LABBE, Philippe. Bibliotheca nummaria ...BUDÉ, Guillaume. De asse et partibus ejus libri quinque.Leiden, Pieter van der Aa, 1695 (colophon at the end of Host’s works: Jena, Johann Zacharias Nisius, 1692). 15 works in 5 volumes, paginated as 3 and bound as 2. 4to. With 2 engraved portraits (vol. I) and 3 folding tables. Contemporary or near contemporary vellum.

HOST, Matthäus (Matthaeus HOSTUS). · 1509

€4,500.00 ($4,959.82 | £3,754.20 | ¥792,019)

[36], 372, [8]; [26], “637” [= 535], [7], [2 blank], [lacking 1-2], 3-716, [86] pp.A collection of works devoted primarily to the ancient Hebrew, Greek, Roman and Arabic number systems, numismatics and mensuration, more than half (nominally 3 volumes) comprising the collected ...

Historia dos soberanos Mohametanos das primeiras quatro dynastias, e de parte da quinta, que reinarao na Mauritania,..Lisbon, Academia real, 1828. 4to. Contemporary motted sheepskin, gold-tooled spine.

ABU-MOHAMMED ASSALEH el Abdel-Halim and José de SANTO ANTONIO MOURA (translator). · 1770

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

[4], 454, [4] pp.First edition of the Portuguese translation of an Arabic historical work written by Abu-Mohammed Assaleh el Abdel-Halim. The work deals with the Almoravid and Almohad dynasties who ruled the southern part of Spain and the north-western part of Africa from the ...

Historia de Ganem, filho de Abou Aibou, denominado o escravo de amor. Traduzida do Arabio em Francez, e ultimamente no idioma Portuguez, por B.A.E.(Colophon: Lisbon, Francisco Borges de Sousa, 1792). Small 4to (21 x 15 cm). Disbound, spine lined with a strip of black paper.

[ALF LAYLA WA-LAYLA - PORTUGUESE - GANIM].

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

39, [1 blank] pp.Extremely rare second edition of a rare Portuguese translation of the History of Ganem, the slave of love, a story from the Arabian Nights. The story tells of Ganem, a son of a merchant from Damascus, who upon his father's death travels to Baghdad to sell his ...

Koninglyke almanach: beginnende met den aanvang der oorlog, van anno 1701 .... Waer in duydelijk de loop der zon der ongeregtigheid, met zyn eclipsen, of de regtvaardige straf des heemels, door XVIII zinnbeelden in koopere plaaten vertoond word; ... | Almanach royal. Commencant[!] avec la guere de l'an 1701 jusques .... ou est exactement observé le cours du soleil d'injustice; avec ses eclips; ou la juste punition du ciel. Demonstré dans XVIII emblemes. ...“Paris” [= Amsterdam], “imprimé â l’imprimerie royale du Petit Louis” [= Carel Allard, 1706?]. Small folio (32 x 21 cm). Engraved print series with an engraved title page and 24 engraved prints (9 single-page and 15 double-page; 18 bound in and 6 loosely inserted), the double-page prints with extensive letterpress text flanking and/or below the engraving. Contemporary marbled paper wrappers.

[ALLARD, Carel]. · 1700

€8,750.00 ($9,644.09 | £7,299.83 | ¥1,540,037)

Engraved title plus [25] engraved plates., some with letterpress text.Extremely rare complete emblematic print series (plus alternative versions of several prints) mercilessly satirizing and ridiculing King Louis XIV of France, his grandson King Philip V of Spain, the Marquise...

Fasciculus geomanticus, in quo varia variorum opera geomantica continentur."Verona" [= Frankfurt am Main], 1687. With: (2) Tabulae geomanticae, seu liber singularis de tribus ultimis ex antiquo manuscripto de anno MDXXXV. Iam primo luci datus, annexis duabus tabellis huic studio mirè inservientibus, caeteroquin utilibus & jucundis. Frankfurt am Main, Johann David Zunner, 1693.2 works in 1 volume (with ad 1 bound after ad 2). 8vo. Ad 1 with title page printed in red and black, 5 (of 6) large folding letterpress tables, 1 double-page engraved folding plate with 2 engraved illustrations, and some woodcut illustrations and numerous letterpress geomantic figures in text. Ad 2 with 2 letterpress folding tables following text, and nearly 200 pages of letterpress tables with geomantic figures. Contemporary overlapping vellum, with the manuscript title on the spine.

FLUDD, Robert, Henri de PISIS and ALFAKINI. · 1574

€4,500.00 ($4,959.82 | £3,754.20 | ¥792,019)

647, [1 blank]; 197, [1 blank] pp.First edition of a collection of three texts on geomancy, a divination system with Arabian origins. Geomancy comes from the Ancient Greek "geômanteía", a translation of the Arabic term " 'ilm al-raml", the "science of the sand". It includes te...

The travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia: containing … travels in Arabia Felix, wherein many things of that country … are treated of, as a particular description of Aden, Moca, and several other places … London, J. Knapton [and 3 others, and sold by 5 more], 1710. 4to. With engraved map of Ethiopia, including part of the Red Sea and the source of the Blue Nile. Modern calf.

TELLEZ (TELLES), Balthasar. · 1590

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

[4], 264, [16] pp.Rare first English edition of Tellez's influential historical account of Ethiopia and Arabia. It is a digest of the accounts of all the Jesuit travellers to Ethiopia and Arabia, including Paez, De Montserrat, Almeida, Lobo and Mendes. It includes an account o...