A. Asher & Co. B.V.

Fossilia Aegyptiaca Musei Borgiani Velitris. Velletri, 1794. 4to. Contemporary boards.

WAD, Gregers.

€3,250.00 ($3,582.09 | £2,711.36 | ¥572,014)

VIII, 32 pp.First and only edition of a catalogue describing the ancient artefacts, fossils and minerals contained in the immense Egyptian collection of cardinal Stefano Borgia, in Rome and Velletri. The core of the collection was assembled in the early part of the 17th centur...

Reizen in China, ...Haarlem, François Bohn, 1807-1809. 3 volumes. 8vo. With 10 engraved plates (6 folding, 1 double-page), the double-page plate with 2 portraits hand-coloured, 4 leaves with engraved music, and several woodcut and engraved illustrations in the text. Original publisher's boards.

BARROW, John. · 1792

€950.00 ($1,047.07 | £792.55 | ¥167,204)

VIII, 288; VI, 334; VI, 341, [1] pp.First Dutch edition of Barrow's Travels in China. The author was George Staunton's private secretary and part of Macartney's mission to China (1792-1794). Barrow's narrative "contains a number of descriptions of Chinese artefacts and novelti...

A journey into Siberia ... containing an account of the manners and customs of the Russians, the present state of their empire; with the natural history, and geographical descriptions of their country ...London, T. Jeffreys, 1770. 4to. With folding map (26.5 x 51.5 cm), partly hand-coloured, and 9 etched plates (1 folding, 8 full-page). Modern sprinkled calf.

CHAPPE D'AUTEROCHE, Jean Baptiste. · 1761

€2,000.00 ($2,204.36 | £1,668.53 | ¥352,008)

XIII, [7], 395, [1] pp.The first English edition. Abbé Jean Chappe d'Auteroche, a French astronomer, was sent to Siberia to observe the transit of Venus, which was due in June 1761 and had great scientific importance, since it could be used to estimate the size of the solar sy...

Catalogus sanctorum & gestorum eorum ex diversis voluminibus collectus: ... (Colophon: Strasbourg, printed by Martin Flach, 1513). Folio (22.2 x 32 cm). Title-page with a woodcut decorated initial and a 4-piece woodcut border by Hans Wechtlin, 1 full-page woodcut by Urs Graf, hundreds of woodcut decorated uncial initials. Set mostly in rotunda gothic types. Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards, in a panel design, with 2 brass clasps on leather straps with brass catchplates and anchorplates.

PETRUS DE NATALIBUS. · 1493

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

[4], 253 ll.Early edition of an influential collection of lives of the saints, first published in Vicenza in 1493, the principal work of Petrus de Natalibus (ca. 1350 or earlier-ca. 1400/06), Venetian Bishop of Equilio. "A very valuable work with a wide circulation. In his arr...

Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres pays circonvoisins. Tome premier[- second]. Traduit de l'Allemand.Amsterdam, Steven Jacobus Baalde; Utrecht, Barthelemy Wild (colophon: printed by Joh. Jos. Besseling, Utrecht, 1775), 1775-1780. 2 volumes. 4to. With 2 engraved integral title-pages, 124 engraved plates (many folding) and a folding map of Yemen (in partial colour). Contemporary gold-tooled calf.

NIEBUHR, Carsten. · 1774

€6,000.00 ($6,613.09 | £5,005.60 | ¥1,056,025)

VIII, [6], 409, [1], [1 blank]; VI, [10], 389, [1] pp.First French edition of an account on Arabia, translated from the German (Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und anderen umliegenden Ländern, 1774) by F.L. Mourier. The title-pages are dated 1776-80; the colophons 1775-79. The ...

Flora saturnizans, die Verwandtschafft des Pflanzen mit dem Mineral-Reich, nach der Natural-Historie und Chymie aus vielen Anmerckungen und Proben …Leipzig, Johann Christian Martini, 1722. 8vo. With an engraved frontispiece showing a mining operation, and 9 engraved plates. 18th-century vellum.

HENCKEL (HENKEL), Johann Friedrich. · 1678

€2,800.00 ($3,086.11 | £2,335.94 | ¥492,812)

[10], 671, [17] pp.First edition of a study of the relation between plants and minerals, generally recognized as Henckel's first major work. He "described in his many books ... the best early accounts of arsenic, zinc, and a variety of pyrites" (Hoover). Henckel compares the f...

[A series of 4 Chinese drawings]. [China, ca. 1650/60?]. Colour drawings (3 ca. 28 x 18 cm, the 4th cut down to 16.5 x 17.5 cm), apparently showing Manchurian scenes.

[DRAWING - CHINA]. · 1650

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

A series of 4 colour drawings of Manchurian(?) scenes. All mounted on Dutch paper probably from the period 1650-1660. The paper of the drawings themselves ranges, in three cases, from 27 x 16 cm to 30 x 19.5 cm; the fourth has been cut down to 16.5 x 17.5 cm. The drawings show...

[A series of 8 Chinese drawings plus a watercolour drawing and a woodblock print].[China, the main series ca. 1660/75?]. A series of 8 Chinese drawings (ca. 24 x 14.5 cm: 5 coloured, 1 also highlighted in gold), showing scenes from a Chinese novel, many military or diplomatic, plus a Chinese watercolour drawing and a Japanese(?) woodblock print.

[DRAWING - CHINA - JAPAN]. · 1662

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

A series of 8 pen and ink drawings (5 coloured, 1 also highlighted in gold), drawn from Chinese books, possibly the 14th-century Sanguo yanyi or Romance of the Three Kingdoms. All mounted on European paper (6 on 3 different patterns of decorated paper). The paper of the drawin...

[A collection of manuscript documents, photographs, magazines and newspaper clippings concerning the 1937 Monte Carlo Automobile Rally]. [The Netherlands, Monte Carlo, etc.], 1937.

[MONTE CARLO AUTOMOBILE RALLY]. · 1937

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

An interesting collection of documents, mostly in Dutch, including a manuscript travel journal, official documents, photographs, issues of three automotive magazines and newspaper clippings, all concerning the 16th Monte Carlo Automobile Rally of 1937, described by one of the ...

Landreis van 't Prins van Wallis Fort aan Hudson Baai, naar den Noorder-Oceaan.The Hague, J.C. Leeuwenstijn, 1798. 2 volumes. 8vo. With folding map, hand-coloured in outline (41.5×50.5 cm), a folding map of the Coppermine River, and 2 folding views, all engraved and etched. Contemporary half sheepskin, gold-tooled spine.

HEARNE, Samuel and Johann Reinhold FORSTER (editor). · 1771

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

16, 247, [1 blank]; [4], 289, [1] pp.A Dutch edition of Hearne's expedition in search of the Northwest Passage and the fabled coppermines. A masterpiece in the literature of exploration, it contains interesting details on natural history and the Indian tribes of the region. Tr...

Instruction sur la fabrication du salpêtre brut.[Paris, Régie des poudres et salpêtres, 1794]. 8vo. With engraved folding plate by N. Ransonnette (23.5 x 32 cm). Later marbled paper-covered boards.

[SALTPETRE].

€425.00 ($468.43 | £354.56 | ¥74,802)

26, [2] pp.Interesting pamphlet on the preparation of saltpetre, a critical component of gunpowder, probably published by the French Commission of Gunpowder ("Régie des poudres et salpêtres"; see Le Normand) at the time of the French Revolution. Including parts on the necessar...

De Indische Archipel, in het bijzonder het eiland Java.Haarlem, widow A. Loosjes (colophon: Amsterdam, printed by H. Bakels), 1823-1825. 3 volumes. 8vo. With 3 line-etched frontispieces, 3 full-page plates (2 line-etched, 1 hand-coloured aquatint with line etching), and a folding map (44 x 55.5 cm), hand-coloured in outline. Contemporary mottled half calf, gold-tooled spine.

CRAWFURD, John. · 1811

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

XXII, 332, [2]; LXXII [= LXXIV], 434, [1], [1 blank]; LX, 538, [2] pp.First Dutch edition of Crawfurd's major History of the Indian Archipelago, with a preface by the translator, Pieter de Haan. Crawfurd was part of the British expedition to Java in 1811 and held several senio...

Traité de l'education des enfans. The Hague, Isaac & Paul Vaillant, Nicolas Prevost, 1722. 2 volumes. 12mo. With 2 title-pages in red and black, each with the same engraved vignette by Bernard Picart (ship in pictorial border with mermaid and merman). Contemporary calf, gold-tooled spine and board edges.

CROUSAZ, Jean-Pierre de. · 1663

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

[20], 471, [1 blank]; [4], 564 pp.First edition of an influential, but now nearly forgotten, scientifically grounded monograph on the education of children by the Swiss philosopher and mathematician Jean-Pierre de Crousaz (1663-1750). This systematic work forms an important li...

[A collection of brochures and folders on mountaineering].[Austria and Switzerland, ca. 1920- ca. 1980]. Ca. 653 brochures (including a few duplicates and variant issues).With: [A collection of books relating to mountaineering].[Globally, ca. 1830- ca. 2000]. Ca. 875 books (including a few duplicates and variant issues, and several multiple-volume titles).

[MOUNTAINEERING]. · 1920

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

An extensive and wide-ranging collection of brochures, folders and books on climbing and hiking and all other aspects related to mountaineering mainly in the Central European mountain areas. The brochures and folders concentrate on the decisive factor in that far-reaching proc...

Ars notariatus. Dat is: Conste en[de] stijl van notarischap: begrepen in Theorijcke ende Practijcke... Desen derden druck, grootelijcken vermeerdert ende verbetert ...Antwerp, Arnout s'Conincx, 1590. Small 8vo (15.5 x 10 cm). With woodcut publisher's device (with letterpress motto "Virtute et constantia") on title-page, a woodcut tail-piece and woodcut decorated initials (3 series). Set in textura types with incidental roman, with sample documents set in civilité with incidental italic. 17th-century parchment.

THUYS, Jacques. · 1583

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

[16], 231, [1] pp.Fourth (third Antwerp) edition, extensively revised and expanded to reach its definitive form, of the first substantial Dutch manual on the notary's practice, based partly on older Latin and French works, some with the same Latin title. It was written (in par...

Pflanzen und Gebirgsarten von Marienbad, ... ergänzt, und mit einem anhange über die andern naturhistorischen Verhältnisse der Curortes.Prague, Kronberger and Weber ("Druck und Papier von Gottlieb Haase Söhne"), 1837. 8vo. With 5 lithographed plates numbered I-II, [III], IV-V, namely a frontispiece view by Sandtner, 3 further illustration plates (1 hand-coloured) and a hand-coloured folding petrographic map of Marienbad. Also with a folding letterpress table. Contemporary brown half sheepskin, gold-tooled spine.

FRIEDRICH AUGUST II, Johann Wolfgang von GOETHE and Karl Joseph HEIDLER. · 1821

€1,000.00 ($1,102.18 | £834.27 | ¥176,004)

X, 203, [1 blank] pp.First and only edition of a collection of botanical and geological articles on the spa town Marienbad (Mariánské Láznì), now part of the Czech Republic. It contains a transcription of Goethe's manuscript catalogue of the geological specimens he collected i...

l'Espagne divisée en tous ses royaumes et principautés suivant qu'ils sont compris sous les Couronnes de Castille et d'Aragon, possedees par le Roy Catholique et sous la couronne de Portugal possedee par le Roy de Portugal. Paris, Hubert Jaillot, [1708]. Engraved map on 2 assembled sheets (55.5 x 78 cm), engraved by Cordier. With title in decorated cartouche on the bottom right corner, scales and privilege in decorated cartouche on the bottom left corner, and a few lines coloured in green.

[MAP - SPAIN & PORTUGAL]. SANSON, Nicolas. · 1708

€650.00 ($716.42 | £542.27 | ¥114,403)

Large map of Spain and Portugal, this state with a privilege for 20 years, granted in 1708. Engraved by Cordier after the map by Nicolas Sanson.Strengthened fold, damaged corners, but map in very good condition.l Cf. Pastoureau, Jail. II A map 91.

Les Monts Pyrenées, ou sont remarqués les Passages de France en Espagne.Paris, Hubert Jaillot, 1719. Engraved map on 2 assembled sheets (54.5 x 88 cm). With title in decorated cartouche (signed F.C.) in upper right corner and scalebars in decorated cartouche in the lower left corner. Coloured in outline.

[MAP - PYRENEES]. SANSON, Nicolas. · 1600

€500.00 ($551.09 | £417.13 | ¥88,002)

Large map of the Pyrenees, a mountain range on the border between France and Spain, after Nicolas Sanson (1600-1675). Apparently printed from the original plates, differing from the map issued in Mortier's "Jaillot-Atlas".Very good copy, slightly browned.l Pastoureau, Jail. II...

Rudimenta linguae Arabicae.Leiden, Boneventura and Abraham Elzevier, 1628. Small 8vo (15 x 9.5 cm). With title-page printed in red and black. 19th-century green sheepskin.

ERPENIUS (VAN ERPE), Thomas. · 1613

€2,800.00 ($3,086.11 | £2,335.94 | ¥492,812)

[10], 172, [48] pp.The rare second, corrected edition of Erpenius's influential Arabic grammar, which remained popular until well into the 19th century. Erpenius, one of the most distinguished orientalists of his day, published his famous Grammatica Arabica in 1613, followed i...

Mémoire sur les mines flottantes et les petards flottans, ou machines infernales maritimes. Paris, Bachlier, libraire pour la marine (printed by De Fain), 1819. 8vo. With a finely engraved folding copperplate of a ship being blown up by a mine (16.5 x 17.5 cm). Lacking the half-title and the final leaf with the publisher's list of books, but with the folding plate, often lacking. Contemporary half tree calf, stormont marbled sides.

MONTGÉRY, Jacques-Philippe Mérigon de. · 1781

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

[2], 78 pp.First and only edition of a treatise on naval mines, an early work by the French naval officer Jacques-Philippe Mérigon de Montgéry (1781-1839), later well-known as a military engineer, pyrotechnician and chronicler of the history of rockets. The folding plate is ve...