A. Asher & Co. B.V.

Billyke traanen, uitgestort op het overlyden van zyne doorluchtigste hoogheid Wilhem Carel Hendrik Friso.Amsterdam, Theodorus Crajenschot, 1751. 1mo broadside (53 x 39 cm). With an engraved mortuary vignette.With:(2) OMMERING, Adriaan van. Op het schielyk afsterven van zyne doorluchtige hoogheid Willem Carel Hendrik Friso.Amsterdam, Andries & Jacobus Stanhoffius, 1751. 1mo broadside (49 x 33 cm).(3) KLOEKHOF, Cornelis Albertus. Treurzang op het afsterven van syne doorlugtigste hoogheyd Willem Carel Hendrik Friso.Utrecht, Nicolaas van Vucht, 1751. 1mo broadside (52.5 x 39 cm).(4) Op het allersmartelykste en voor den lande allerdroevigst afsterven van zyne doorluchtige hoogheid Willem Carel Hendrik Friso.Amsterdam, Antoni Waldorp, [1751]. 1mo broadside (52 x 38 cm).

[WILLIAM IV of Orange]. MEIJER, Jan. · 1711

€1,850.00 ($2,039.04 | £1,543.39 | ¥325,608)

Collection of 4 extremely rare broadsides with elegies on the death of Willem IV (Willem Karel Hendrik Friso), Prince of Orange (1711-1751), the first hereditary stadtholder of the Netherlands. At least three of the four were reprinted a year later in Dichtkundige cypressenbla...

[Letter to Thomas de Saint Laurent]. Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), 30 December 1783. 4to (21×17 cm). Autograph letter in French, signed, written in dark brown ink on paper in a Latin hand. In a later paper folder.

KRAYENHOFF, Cornelis Dionysius. · 1762

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

[2] pp.Letter in French, signed and with a long autograph postscript, written from Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) by the Dutch governor of Ceylon, Cornelis Dionysius Krayenhoff to Thomas de Saint Laurent, apparently Jean de Thomas (1762-1835), 3rd Count of Saint-Laurent, a Fren...

[Letter to Jacques de Germigny in Constantinople (Istanbul)].Chenonceaux, 2 September 1584. Folio (34 x 24 cm). Signed letter in French, in brown ink on paper, written in a clear gothic hand. Folded for sending and addressed on the outside, with a slot for a ribbon and traces of a red wax seal.

[LETTER - SIGNED]. MEDICI, Catherine de'. · 1519

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

[1], [3 blank (except for address)] pp.A signed letter written by Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) from her favourite palace, Château de Chenonceau near the small village of Chenonceaux in the Loire valley near Tours, to Jacques de Germigny (d.1587? not 1596?), French ambassad...

Discours over de ghelegentheyt vande nieuwe cruyssers, daer het wel-varen, vande zee-vaert, ende alle inghesetenen van het lant, op't hooghste aen gelegen is.[Middelburg?], 1645. 4to. 19th-century wrappers.

[MARITIME HISTORY - PRIVATEERING]. · 1636

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

[36] pp.Two dialogues discussing Dutch warships capturing Dunkirk privateers and merchant ships. Dunkirkers, serving the Spanish Navy, were a major threat to Dutch trade and shipping, taking hundreds of ships during the Dutch revolt. The present pamphlet discusses several comm...

Aenmerckingen ende bedenckingen over de zee-rechten, uyt het placcaet van koninck Philips uytgegeven den lesten octobris 1563.Amsterdam, Hendrick Harmensz, 1695. 4to. 18th-century sprinkled half sheepskin.

GLINS, Taco van. · 1593

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

[8], 1-138, [4], "139", [1 blank] pp.Second edition of a widely-read commentary on Philip II of Spain’s maritime laws of 1593, written by Taco van Glins (1619-1673), professor of Law at the University of Franeker (Friesland). First published in 1665, it "remained the standard ...

Institutiones ad fundamenta linguæ Hebrææ. Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár, Klausenburg), Sándor (Alexander) Szathmári Pap, 1743. 4to. Set in roman and italic types with extensive Hebrew, incidental fraktur, Greek (2 sizes) and Arabic, and one 3-letter word in Samaritan. Contemporary gold-tooled sprinkled tanned sheepskin, each board with the Diesbach Belleroche coat of arms, probably a son of Nicolas de Diesbach Belleroche (1668-1735) in Switzerland.

SCHULTENS, Albert. · 1686

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

[30], 501, [84], [1 blank] pp.Second edition of Albert Schultens's renowned grammar of biblical Hebrew. Schultens (1686-1750), known as the father of comparative Semitic philology, taught Hebrew at Franeker and Leiden. He wrote extensively on the relationship between Hebrew an...

Histoire naturelle des quadrupèdes ovipares et des serpens [= Histoire naturelle, vols. XXXVII-XXXVIII].Dordrecht, A. Blussé and son, 1799. 2 volumes. 4to. With 63 engraved plates. 19th-century uniform half calf, gold-tooled spines.

[BUFFON, Georges Louis Leclerc and] Bernard Germain Étienne de la Ville-sur-Illon, comte de LACÉPÈDE. · 1707

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

10, 276, [2]; 14, "280" [= 284] pp.The reptile and amphibian section of Buffon's monumental work on the general and particular natural history. Many species (frogs, snakes, lizards, salamanders, turtles, etc.) are depicted in their natural habitat. The work is here in the new ...

Histoire naturelle, générale et particuliére . . . Supplément [Tome premier - septième].Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1774-1782 (vols. 1-6); Dordrecht, A. Blussé and son, 1799 (vol. 7). 7 volumes. 4to. With 2 folding engraved maps and 218 plates (full-page and folding and including 2 bis), all engraved. Contemporary mottled calf, gold-tooled spine and board edges (vols. 1-6, uniform), 19th-century half calf, gold-tooled spine (vol. 7).

BUFFON, Georges Louis Leclerc. · 1952

€2,250.00 ($2,479.91 | £1,877.10 | ¥396,009)

The complete supplements to Buffon's famous Histoire naturelle, with the first 6 volumes in the first edition and the last volume in the new edition published in Amsterdam and Dordrecht, the only quarto edition to rival the original French Imprimerie Royale edition.Supplements...

Trattenimenti scientifici su la sfera, geografia istorica, meteore, ed astronomia.Rome, Bernabò and Lazzarini, 1754. With several woodcut illustrations in the text (including an armillary sphere), and an extra added folding engraved frontispiece.With:(2) BRUNETTI, Francesco Saverio. Trattenimenti scientifici su l’indrografia, nautica, blasone, statica, meccanica, architectura, pirotecnia, e suono.Roma, Bernabò and Lazzarini, 1755. With several woodcut illustrations in the text, and an extra added frontispiece (facsimile of an engraving?).(3) BRUNETTI, Francesco Saverio. Macchina semplicissima per cui l’acqua da se stessa salice ad una data altezza.Rome, Bernabò and Lazzarini, 1747. With folding engraved plate as frontispiece. 3 works (the first in 2 parts) in 1 volume. 4to. Contemporary sheepskin parchment.

BRUNETTI, Francesco Saverio. · 1741

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

[24], 180, 112; [8], 173, [3 blank]; 12 pp.Three little-known scientific works by Francesco Saverio Brunetti, an Italian polymath and chaplain. The first work, divided into two parts, opens with a dialogue devoted to armillary spheres, followed by extensive chapters on the geo...

Provisioneel ende particulier tractaet, gemaeckt, gearresteert ende besloten in 's Graven-Hage, den 27. Martii, 1645. tusschen de heer Francisco de Zousa Continho, raedt ende ambassadeur van den doorluchtighsten grootmachtigen Koningh van Portugael, Algarves, &c. ...; ende de … Staten Generael van de Vereenighde Nederlandtsche Provincien, &c. aengaende de controversie over de jurisdictie ende territorie van 't Fort Galle [in Ceylon], &c.The Hague widow and heirs of Hillebrandt Jacobsz. van Wouw, 1645 [= The Hague, Paulus Scheltus, ca. 1697?]. 4to. Modern plain-paper wrapper.

[CEYLON]. · 1645

€300.00 ($330.65 | £250.28 | ¥52,801)

[8] pp.A late edition, copying the original 1645 imprint, of a provisional agreement made between the Dutch States General and the Portuguese ambassador Francisco de Zousa Continho on the jurisdiction and territory of Fort Galle, one of the most important outposts in Ceylon (S...

Grondbeginzelen der kegelsneeden, bevattende de eerste en voornaamste eigenschappen van de parabola, ellips en hyperbola. Ten dienste der leerlingen opgesteld.Amsterdam, Yntema and Tieboel, 1769. 8vo. With 7 engraved folding plates, head- and tailpieces built up from cast typographic ornaments. Contemporary half calf, sprinkled-paper sides.

YPEY, Nicolaas. · 1714

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

XXVIII, 68 pp.First and only edition of an acclaimed textbook on conic sections by Nicolaas Ypey (1714-1785), professor of mathematics and fortification at Franeker. It opens with a preface by Pibo Steenstra, whose Grondbeginselen der meetkonst (1771) reflected Ypey's mathemat...

Vierde[-zeste en leste] deel der voortreffelyke reizen van de deurluchtige reisiger Pietro della Valle, Edelman van Romen, in veel voorname gewesten des werrelts, sedert het jaar 1615, gedaan: namelijk in Turkijen, Egipten, Palestina, Persien, Oostindien, en in verscheide andere lantschappen, daar in hij al ’t aanmerkingswaerdige, dat ’er is, naerstiglijk opgespeurt, en naaukeurig aangemerkt, en veel treffelijke dingen, tot noch toe onbekent, ten toon gestelt heeft.Amsterdam, widow of Jan Hendriksz. Boom, Jan Rieuwertsz and Abraham Wolfgang, 1665. 3 (of 6) volumes bound as 1. 4to. With 3 title-pages, 13 full-page engraved plates (1 crudely hand-coloured).Contemporary vellum, manuscript spine title, later endpapers.

VALLE, Pietro della. · 1614

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

187, [1 blank]; [4], 186, [2 blank]; [4], 185, [11] pp.Volumes 4, 5 and 6 of the first Dutch edition (the first illustrated edition in any language) of Pietro della Valle's account of his travels in Turkey, Egypt, the Holy Land, Syria, Iraq, Persia (Iran) and India. Della Vall...

La theologie naturelle ... traduite en François ...Rouen, Jean de la Mare, 1641. 8vo. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment.

SABUNDE (SEBONDE), Raymond of and Michel de MONTAIGNE (translator). · 1533

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

[1], [1 blank], [13], [1 blank], 891, [49] pp.Sixth (?) edition of Michel de Montaigne's (1533-1592) translation of the Book of creatures or Natural theology by the Catalan theologian Raymund of Sabunde (ca. 1385-1436). Written round 1436, "the Book of creatures belongs to the...

Morale de Mahomet; ou recueil des plus pures maximes du Coran.Constantinople, [no publisher's name]; Paris, Lamy, 1784. 18mo in 2s. With a woodcut flower ornament on the title-page, a woodcut rococco headpiece, small decorated roman capitals used as initials, decorative rules. Brown goatskin morocco (ca. 1865?), gold-tooled spine in 6 compartments, chemical marbled sides, nonpareil marbled endpapers.

SAVARY, Claude-Etienne. · 1883

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

[4], 91, [1 blank] pp.First edition of Savary's French summary of the ideas of Islamic religion, based on his 1883 French translation of the Qu'ran. In a certain sense it may be considered an epitone of the Qu'ran. While Savary's Qu'ran was published in Paris (by Knapen & fils...

Viaggio alle Indie Orientali umiliato alla Santita di N. S. Papa Pio Sesto pontefice massimo … Rome, Antonio Fulgoni, 1796. 4to. With 12 engraved illustration plates (6 with 2 illustrations each to make 18 in total), engraved roundel portraits of Pope Pius VI (on the title-page) and the author (above the opening of the main text) and some small woodcut illustrations of "Indian hieroglyphs". Set in roman and italic types with occasional words in Greek, Arabic, East Syriac, Devanagari and more extensive texts in Malayalam, plus a Malabar song with a double staff made with built-up round-head music notes. 19th-century maroon half sheepskin.

VESDIN (VEZDIN), Filip (PAULINUS A SANCTO BARTHOLOMAEO). · 1748

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

XX, 404 pp.First edition, in Italian, of a pioneering work of Indian linguistics and comparative philology by the Croatian Carmelite monk Filip Vesdin (1748-1806) who took the monastic name Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo, with his 6-page dedication to Pope Pius VI. Although no...

Voyages de l'embouchure de l'Indus a Lahor, Caboul, Balkh et a Boukhara; et retour par la Perse, pendant les années 1831, 1832 et 1833 ... Atlas. Paris, Arthus Bertrand (colophon on back wrapper: Imprimerie et Fonderie de Fain), [1835]. 3 text volumes and 1 atlas volume. 8vo. With 11 numbered lithographed plates (1 folding) showing costumes of the regions, medals and engraved stones, topographic views, archaeological sites, etc., and a large folding engraved map with the routes hand-coloured in red and orange. Contemporary gold-tooled half sheepskin (text volumes), original publisher's letterpress-printed brown paper wrappers (atlas volume).

BURNES, Alexander. · 1767

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

[3], [1 blank] pp. plus plates.First French edition of Alexander Burnes's Travels into Bokhara, translated from the English by Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès (1767-1846). It details a voyage through Lahore (Punjab, Pakistan), Kabul (Afghanistan), Balkh (then part of Persia/Iran, ...

Histoire du Mahométisme ... traduite de l´Anglais sur la deuxième édition ...Paris, Boulland et Cie, 1825. 8vo. With hand-coloured lithographed frontispiece (''L'Evèque ou Wladika''). Late 19th-century textured cloth, gilt edges.

MILLS, Charles. · 1817

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

[2], IV, 544 pp.First French edition of an authoritative work on Islam, translated from the second, corrected English edition.It was first published in 1817, followed by a 2nd edition in 1818. "At the time of its publication it was proclaimed to be the only complete authority ...

L'Ottomanno ...Naples, Costantino Vitale, 1600. 4to. 17th-century limp sheepskin parchment.

SORANZO, Lazzaro. · 1595

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

[20], 202, [18] pp.Fourth edition, with an extensive new index, of a detailed account of the Ottoman Empire under the infamous Sultan Mehmed III (reigned 1595-1603), first published by Vittorio Baldini in Ferrara in 1598 (he also published one of two 1599 editions, the other a...

Commentario de le cose de' Turchi, …(Colophon: Rome, printed by Antonio Blado "in le case de" Gioanbatista di Massimi, 1535). 4to (20 x 14 cm). With Blado's woodcut device on title-page (repeated below the colophon). Modern blue-grey paper wrappers made with ca. 1750 materials.

GIOVIO, Paolo. · 1526

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

[84] pp.Third edition of a treatise on the origins and nature of the power of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman victory at the battle of Mohács in Hungary (1526) spread panic through Christian Europe and the Ottoman siege of Vienna (1529), even though it finally failed, roused m...

Journal du voyage de Mr Collier resident à la Porte. Pour messieurs les Etats Generaux des Provinces Unies.Paris, Gervais Clouzier, 1672. 12mo. 19th-century(?) half calf, gold-tooled spine.

COLLIER (COLJER), Justin and Jaques van DAM. · 1624

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

[12], 103, [3] pp.Second French edition of the journal of Justin(us) Collier (also Coljer or Colier) (ca. 1624-1682) giving a detailed account of his first months in Constantinople (Istanbul), Smyrna (Izmir) and Adrianople (Edirne) in 1668, the year he succeeded Levinus Warner...