A. Asher & Co. B.V.

[21 autograph letters, signed, to Marie-Félicité Brosset].Saint Petersburg, ca. 1840-1879. With: (2) [Manuscript chronological numbered list of 34 publications by Dorn, 1843-1865].[Saint Petersburg, ca. 1865].8vo (letters, mostly 21 x 13.5 cm) and folio (list of publications). Letters in French with an occasional (Persian?) word in Arabic script, written in black ink on paper, some with the address on the outside and one with Dorn's (Persian?) red wax seal in Arabic script.

DORN, Bernard. · 1805

€7,500.00 ($8,266.36 | £6,257.00 | ¥1,320,032)

20 letters [4] pp. each (some including blanks); 1 letter [1, 1 blank] pp.; list of publications [4] pp.Signed autograph letters written over nearly 40 years by the German-born orientalist in Saint Petersburg, Bernard Dorn (1805-1881) to (or in one case for) his Paris-born col...

Palaestra linguarum orientalium, hoc est: quatuor primorum capitum Geneseos, I. Textus originalis tam ex Judaeorum quàm Samaritanorum traditionibus. II. Targumim seu paraphrases orientales praecipuae, nempe I. Chaldaicae, (Onkelosi, Jonathanis et Hierosolymitana) II. Syriaca, III. Samaritana, IV. Arabica, V. Aethiopica, VI. Persica. Omnia cum versione Latinâ ...Including: OTHO, Andreas. Glossarium linguarum orientalium octuplex: Hebraicum, Chaldaicum, Syriacum, Samaritanum, Arabicum, Aethiopicum, Persicum et Rabbinicum …Frankfurt am Main, published by Friedrich Knoch, printed by Martin Jacquet, 1702. 4to. With one woodcut initial. Set in roman, Arabic, Hebrew, Samaritan and Ethiopic types. 2 parts in 1 volume. Nineteenth-century half calf with marbled sides.

OTHO, Georg. · 1654

€3,950.00 ($4,353.62 | £3,295.35 | ¥695,217)

[18] 140, 147, [3] pp.First and only edition of a small polyglot Bible. Although this only contains the first four chapters of Genesis, it does so in seven languages printed in five different scripts. The publication of polyglot bibles in the 16th and 17th centuries was an imp...

[Autograph letter, signed, of recommendation for Louis Bresnier].Paris, 9 September 1836. Folio (36 x 23 cm). Letter in brown ink on wove paper.

MARCEL, Jean-Joseph. · 1803

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

[2] pp.Signed autograph letter of recommendation by the Parisian nobleman, professor of oriental languages at the Collège Royale de France in Paris and director of Napolean's Imprimerie Imperiale from 1803 to 1815, Jean-Joseph Marcel (1776-1854), for his student Louis Bresnier...

[6 autograph letters, signed, mostly to Antoine-Jean de Saint-Martin]. [Paris], 7 April [1820?]-13 January 1824. 8vo & 4to. Signed autograph letters in brown ink on laid paper, the 1824 letter on a letterpress "Bibliothèque du Roi" letterhead with the royal arms.

LANGLÈS, Louis Mathieu. · 1763

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

7 letters, each written on 1 side of a single leaf.Six short letters written by Louis Mathieu Langlès (1763-1824), leading French orientalist and conservator of oriental manuscripts at the Bibliothèque Royale, mostly to the leading orientalist and Armenologist Antoine-Jean de ...

[Drop-title:] Distinto ragguaglio della solenne udienza che alli 4. Settembre ebbe dall' Augustissimo Imperatore Carlo VI. re della Spagne, d'Ungheria &c. a Vienna nel Palazzo Cesareo della Favorita l'ecc[ellentissi]mo sig[nor]. grande ambasciatore Ottomano visire Mückerem Ibrahim Pascia, …Including: Racconto della solenne visita, che alli 7. Di Settembre 1719. Il Sig[nor]. Grande Ambasciatore Ottomano Ibrahim Pascià diede al Seren[issimo]. Prencipe Eugenio di Savoja, …(Colophon: Rome, Giovanni Francesco Chracas, 1719). 4to. With a hatched roman capital used as an initial. Set in roman types with extensive italic. Modern boards covered with chemical-marbled paper, black morocco spine label.

[OTTOMAN EMPIRE]. · 1719

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

8 pp.Extremely rare contemporary account of the audiences of the first Ottoman ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire before the Emperor himself and before Prince Eugene of Savoy, both in the year 1719. This signalled the beginning of the attempted transition from war to negotiat...

[Autograph letter, signed].[London]. 1900 8vo. Signed autograph letter from the African explorer Henry Morton Stanley to the governor of Natal and Zululand Sir Walter Francis Hely-Hutchinson, written on paper with an embossed address.

[AUTOGRAPH]. STANLEY, Henry Morton. · 1849

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

1, [1 blank] pp.To Sir Walter: "I hope you will kindly excuse me from coming tonight as I see no immediate end to my work - unless I put in a few hours extra. I hope to be free by about noon tomorrow ...". The Anglo-Irish diplomat and colonial administrator Sir Walter Francis ...

[Binding title:] Album des Trabrenn-Sport.Berlin, H. Schnaebeli & Co, 1879. Oblong 8vo (33 x 26.5 cm) album with 16 original albumen prints (ca. 20.5 x 15 cm), mounted on paperboard. Original richly decorated cloth. Title on front cover: "Album des Trabrenn-Sport. H. Schnaebeli & Co. Hof-Photographen u. Kunstverlag. Berlin Unter den Linden 30".

[PHOTOGRAPHY - HORSES].SCHNAEBELI, H.. · 1873

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

Fine album of original albumen prints depicting trotting. All horses and jockeys are identified in handwriting on the opposite page. 1 Cremien. 2. Lump. schw. H. v. Lump a. d. Nelly Parker. Züchter u. Bes. Gestüt Mariahall. 3. Mazeppa. Fahrer J. W. Raymer. 4. anon. 5. France's...

The art of riding, set foorth in a breefe treatise, with a due interpretation out of certeine places alledged out of Xenophon, and Gryson ...London, Henry Denham, 1584. 4to. Gold-tooled red morocco (ca. 1890) by Riviere & son; rebacked, with the original backstrip laid down.

ASTLEY, John. · 1507

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

[8], 79, [1] pp.Rare first (and only early) edition of one of the earliest English treatises on horsemanship, by John Astley (ca. 1507-1596), derived in part from Xenophon, Federico Grisone and other authors, and in part from Astley's own experience. Though sometimes described...

Australie un voyage a travers le bush. Geneva, Jules-Guillaume Fick, 1868. 8. Illustrated with 20 original albumen prints of drawings (10 full-page, mounted on inserted leaves of heavy paper as plates, and 10 smaller, mounted on the text leaves in spaces left for that purpose). Contemporary gold-tooled polished green calf, richly gold-tooled spine, gilt edges. Rebacked in green cloth with the original backstrip laid down.

MARCET, Edouard.

€3,750.00 ($4,133.18 | £3,128.50 | ¥660,016)

268 pp.First edition, in the original French, of Marcet's fictional narrative of life in Queensland, remarkably illustrated with mounted photographic reproductions of drawings. Edouard Marcet was a Swiss settler in Queensland, who also published two factual accounts of life in...

Tartaros en China, historia.Madrid, Joseph Fernadez de Buendia for Lorenço de Ibarra, 1665. Small 8vo (14.5×10 cm). Late 18th-century gold-tooled mottled goatskin.

MARTINI, Martino. · 1654

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

[40], 188 pp.First edition of the Spanish translation of an “important and extremely popular work on the history of China. Many editions followed [after the original Latin edition of 1654], … testifying of the enormous interest for China all over Europe and the impact the book...

De historie ofte beschijvinghe van het groote rijck van China. Amsterdam, Cornelis Claesz. [printed by Jacob Cornelisz Vennecool, Delft], “1595” [= 1596/99]. 8vo. Modern polished tan calf, gold-tooled spine.

GONZÁLEZ DE MENDOZA, Juan.

€12,500.00 ($13,777.28 | £10,428.32 | ¥2,200,053)

197, [1 blank] pp.Very rare second edition in Dutch (dated in the same year as the first) of Juan González de Mendoza’s very popular work on China, “one of the most influential early books on China to be published in Europe” (Reed & Demattè). It offers a detailed description o...

A catalogue of the Portland Museum lately the property of the Duchess Dowager of Portland, deceased: which will be sold by auction ...With: (2) A catalogue of a very valuable collection of cameos, intaglios, and precious stones, and other curiosities; being part of a late much celebrated cabinet, many out of the Arundel collection; which will be sold by auction ...[London, Skinner and Co., 1786]. 2 works in 1 volume. 4to. With full-page engraved frontispiece showing the interior of the Portland Museum with numerous objects from its collection. Contemporary gold-tooled vellum.

[PORTLAND MUSEUM]. [LIGHTFOOT, John]. · 1715

€18,500.00 ($20,390.37 | £15,433.92 | ¥3,256,078)

VIII, "194" [= 192]; 6 pp.The auction catalogue of the celebrated collection of Margaret Bentinck Cavendish (1715-1785), Duchess of Portland, with prices and purchasers (and some additional lots) in manuscript. Prepared by John Lightfoot, the Duchess's librarian, it describes ...

Dichiarazione piú copiosa della dottrina Cristiana ... Rome, [Propaganda Fide], 1770. With: (2) BORGIA, Stefano. Irsad li-ajl al-i'tiraf wa-tanawul al-qurban, … [= Instructions for confession and communion][Rome, Propaganda Fide, 1770?]. Both works are set entirely in Arabic type. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo (18 x 12 cm). Grey laid paper wrappers (ca. 1823).

BELLARMINO, Roberto. · 1731

€5,500.00 ($6,062.00 | £4,588.46 | ¥968,023)

411, [1 blank]; 109, [1 blank], [1], [3 blank] pp.Ad 1: Third Arabic edition of the complete text of Bellarmino's immensely popular catechism. The catechism was translated into Arabic for the use of Catholic missionaries.Ad 2: Rare first and only edition of Stefano Borgia's Ar...

Relation du voyage a la recherche de la Pérouse.Including: Atlas pour servir à la Relation du voyage à la recherche de la Pérouse, ...Paris, H.J. Jansen, An VIII [= 1799/1800]. 3 volumes. 4to (2 text volumes) and folio (atlas). Atlas with engraved title-page, large folding map (59 x 86.5 cm) and 43 full-page engraved plates (numbered 2-44), including 14 botanical plates drawn or completed by Pierre-Joseph Redouté. Modern mottled half calf.

LABILLARDIÈRE, Jacques Julien Houton de. · 1791

€12,500.00 ($13,777.28 | £10,428.32 | ¥2,200,053)

XVI, 442; 332, 113, [1] pp.First edition of Labillardière's famous and finely illustrated narrative, a classic work of travel literature. The mysterious disappearance of the great French explorer Jean François Galaup de La Pérouse, led to much speculation in France. On 9 Febru...

[Autograph letter, signed, from Maria Malibran to Mr. Colladon].Norwich, 23 September [1830]. 4to. Written in ink on paper. Disbound. Gilt edges.

MALIBRAN, Maria. · 1808

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

4 pp.Crucial letter in the life of Spanish opera singer Maria Malibran (1808-1836), born Maria Felicitas Garcia Sitches, in which she refuses to see her husband Eugène Malibran, dated 23 September, 1830. The legendary Maria Malibran was known equally for her unrivalled voice, ...

Sammlung und Darstellung verschiedener Pferde intressanter Zuchten, Landeskarten und Rassen ... Vienna, Müllersche Kunsthandlung, 1815. Oblong folio (31 x 42.5 cm). Engraved print series, including a title page engraved by Dorneck and 6 numbered engravings of horses engraved by Siegmund Ferdinand von Perger, hand-coloured and loose as issued.

RICH, Claudius James and Siegmund Ferdinand von PERGER. · 1778

€12,500.00 ($13,777.28 | £10,428.32 | ¥2,200,053)

[1], VI engraved ll.Only copy located of the first of two(?) instalments of a hand-coloured engraved print series depicting five Arabian horses and one Hungarian stallion stud. All prints were engraved by the Austrian painter, draughtsman and engraver Siegmund Ferdinand von Pe...

A breife discovery or description of the most famous island of Madagascar or St. Laurence in Asia neare unto East-India.London, Printed by E[dward]. G[riffin]. for John Hardesty, 1646. Small 4to (20 x 15.5 cm). Gold-tooled tanned sheepskin (ca. 1850). Rebacked, with original backstrip laid down.

BOOTHBY, Richard. · 1622

€18,500.00 ($20,390.37 | £15,433.92 | ¥3,256,078)

[12], 72, [1], [1 blank] pp.First separately published edition of Boothby's description of Madagascar and its opportunities for trade and colonization, detailing the trade with India, Persia (including Ormuz, captured in 1622 by a joint Anglo-Persian force) and other countries...

Deutsche und Niederländische astronomische Instrumente des 11.-18. Jahrhunderts. München, C.H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1956. With 80 numbered plates. Half cloth.

ZINNER, Ernst. · 1886

€250.00 ($275.55 | £208.57 | ¥44,001)

X, 678, [2] pp.First edition of a standard work on astronomic instruments from Germany and the Netherlands by the noted historian of astronomy Ernst Zinner (1886-1970).Very good copy

Histoire generale de la religion des Turcs. Avec la naissance, la vie, & la mort, de leur prophete Mahomet; et les actions des quatre premiers caliphes qui l'ont suivy.Paris, Jean Guignard, 1632. 8vo. With the controversial half-page engraved portrait of Muhammad. 17th-century(?) vellum, later endpapers.

BAUDIER, Michel. · 1589

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

[70], [2 blank], 726, [50] pp.Second edition of "the most complete treatment of Islam up to its time in France" (Atabey). Written by Micheal Baudier (ca. 1589-1645), historiographer to the Court of France. The book is presented as a history of the religion of the Turks, who co...

The commentaries of Messire Blaize de Montluc, Mareschal of France.London, Andrew Clark for Henry Brome, 1674. Folio. With engraved frontispiece full-length portrait of the author. Contemporary blind-tooled mottled calf. Expertly rebacked in similar blind-tooled calf.

MONLUC, Blaise, Seigneur de. · 1521

€1,500.00 ($1,653.27 | £1,251.40 | ¥264,006)

[18], "404" [= 400], [12] pp. plus engr. frontispiece.First English edition of Blaise de Monluc's own detailed account of his career, beginning as a foot-soldier and finally becoming Marshal of France, providing a military history of France from 1521 to 1576. He also provides ...