A. Asher & Co. B.V.

The Siege of Besançon.[France, late 17th century]. 46 x 58 cm. Brown and black ink and grey wash on vellum mounted on a wooden panel, heightened with gold. In a passepartout behind glass in a modern black wooden frame.

[PUGET, Pierre Paul]. · 1620

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

Rare drawing by Pierre Puget (1620-1694), who primarily was a celebrated sculptor, architect, and engineer, and was also an exceptional draughtsman. Trained as a woodcarver in the shipyards of Marseilles, Puget later worked in Rome and Florence, assisting Pietro da Cortona (15...

Jansenismus omnem destruens religionem.Cologne, Johann Wilhelm Friessem junior, 1693. With: (2) [DU BOIS, Nicolas (attributed)]. Jansenismus plurimas haereses et errores damnatos pertinaciter defendens.Cologne, Johann Wilhelm Friessem junior, 1693.(3) [DU BOIS, Nicolas (attributed)]. Jansenismus in multis exotice rigidus.Cologne, Johann Wilhelm Friessem junior, 1693. 3 broadsides. Ad 1: ca. 96 x 75 cm; ad 2 and 3: ca. 136 x 76.5 cm. Each broadside is printed on 2 sheets, divided in 8 (ad 1) or 12 (ads 2 and 3) columns, and includes 2 decorated woodcut initials, and an ornamental border between the columns.

[DU BOIS, Nicolas (attributed)]. · 1694

€5,850.00 ($6,447.76 | £4,880.46 | ¥1,029,625)

Exceptionally rare set of three anti-Jansenist broadsides, of which we have not been able to find any other copies in either institutions or on the market. Although they were also published as books in the same year, each text was newly typeset for the present broadsides. Desp...

Neu eröffnetes Magazin musikalischer Tonwerkzeuge, dargestellt in technischen Zeichnungen alle Saiten-, Blas-, Schlag-, & Friktions- Intrumente unter Aufnahme der neusten Verbesserungen und darauf bezüglichen statistischen Notizen, nebst geschichtlicher Uebersicht der Musik und Instrumente vom ersten Ursprung bis in die jetztzeit, mit specieller Beschreibung ihres Baues, Tonumfangs und fasslicher Angabe ihrer Behandlung und Erhaltung.Frankfurt, im Selbst-Verlag des Verfassers (printed by Reinhold Baist), 1855. Large 8vo. With a lithographed frontispiece, 140 lithographed illustrations in the text, and 3 folding lithographed plates. Contemporary gold foil stamped burgundy velvet, with the author and title in gold on the spine, an elaborate decorative frame on both boards, surrounded by a wide single fillet frame, gilt edges, white watered silk endpapers. The work is housed in a red cloth solander box.

WELCKER VON GONTERHAUSEN, Heinrich. · 1811

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

439, [3] pp.First and only edition of a rare work on musical instruments, luxuriously bound in burgundy velvet by J. Ludwig in Frankfurt. The work has been copiously illustrated with 140 figures in the text and 3 large folding plates, including one with musical score. It gives...

Gedenkwaardige voyagie van Gerret Vermeulen naar Oost-Indien, in't jaar 1668, aangevangen, en in't jaar 1674. voltrokken...Amsterdam, Jan Claesz ten Hoorn, 1676. 4to. With an engraved allegorical frontispiece, 6 almost half-page engravings in the text, and a decorated woodcut initial. Modern blind-tooled sprinkled half calf.

VERMEULEN, Gerrit · 1668

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

[4], 91, [1 blank] pp.Very rare first and only edition of a beautifully illustrated account of a voyage to the Dutch East Indies, undertaken from 1668 to 1674 by Gerrit Vermeulen (dates unknown), on the Dutch East India Company (VOC) ship Eendracht. The work contains detailed ...

Souvenirs de voyages martimes par un officier de marine en retraiteAlgiers, Adolphe Jourdan Libraire-editieur Jourdan, 1884. 8vo. 19th-century half morocco.

[FRENCH - COLONIAL - MARITIME]. · 1884

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

VIII, 516, [2] pp.First and only rare edition of a late-19th-century French maritime memoir, published in Algiers in 1884 and attributed on the title page to “un officier de marine en retraite”. The present work is printed by Adolphe Jourdan (1846-1916), a retired naval office...

[Collection of ten photographs of the oil industry].[Iran, before 1980]. Various sizes. With 10 photographs. The collection is housed in a plastic file folder, with each photograph also separately kept in a plastic folder.

[PHOTOGRAPHY - IRAN - OIL INDUSTRY].

€1,800.00 ($1,983.93 | £1,501.68 | ¥316,808)

Collection of ten beautiful press photographs of the oil industry in Abadan, Iran, which was home to the largest oil refinery in the world at the time these photographs were taken. They show various parts of the industry, such as the oil refinery, oil tankers, pipelines, and f...

Panorama d’Amsterdam.[Amsterdam], [printed by R. de Vries for] François Buffa & Sons, [ca. 1860]. Oblong (ca.16.4 x 24.6 cm. per leaf). The panorama is made up of 8 numbered lithographed views, printed in monochrome with beige tone block. The viewer looks southward from the IJ over the city from the Oosterdok (eastern dock) and the Oosterkerk (eastern church) along the docks and wharfs, via the recognisable towers of several churches and the view of the Royal Palace, to the Westerdok (western dock), a large factory, and the Blauwhoofd, the northwestern-most bulwark of the city. Original brown blind-stamped wave-grained cloth with the title and imprint information lettered in gold on the front board in a rococo frame, yellow endpapers.

[PANORAMA - AMSTERDAM]. Johan Conrad GREIVE jr. (illustrator). · 1837

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

8 numbered views folded making 24 pages.Extremely rare leporello-style bound copy of a lithographic panorama of Amsterdam, printed in monochrome with a beige tone block, after drawings by Johan Conrad Greive (1837-1891) and lithographed by Ruurt de Vries Jr. (1813-1874).A rema...

Alliances genealogiques des rois et princes de gaule.Lyon, Jean de Tournes, 1561. Folio. With 1068 contemporary hand-coloured woodcut armorial devices, a woodcut title frame, the woodcut device of De Tournes, a woodcut headpiece, and two woodcut decorated initials. 17th-century gold-tooled mottled calf, with the title lettered in gold on the spine. With a separate paper bearing the number 1311 at the head of the spine, and with brown sprinkled edges.

PARADIN, Claude. · 1519

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

[12], “1201” [= 1021], [3] pp.First edition of this heraldic compendium, presenting the arms of the Kings of France and dedicated to Catherine de’ Medici (1519-1589) in her role as Queen of France. The work opens with a superb Renaissance title-page border, notable for its str...

Executoria de hildaguia de los Echeniques y Aguirres, y de sus descendientes.[Spain, 1657-1664?]. Folio. With an elaborately decorated letterpress title page, the letters of the title are highlighted in blue, red, gold, and silver, and are surrounded by a contemporary hand-drawn, hand-coloured, and highlighted in gold and silver floral frame (in the same style as the other floral borders in this work) including equally decorated arms of the Echeniques y Aguirres family. All text is set within woodcut borders incorporating the family’s coat of arms, the borders show two different floral designs which are repeated throughout the work. All borders are vividly coloured by a contemporary hand and highlighted in gold and silver. Contemporary elaborately gold-tooled red morocco, sewn on six supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, the gold-tooling is built up from numerous impressions of small (pointillé) tools creating a large intricate centrepiece within two detailed frames, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, marbled pastedowns, and gilt edges.

[GENEAOLOGY - NOBILITY]. · 1664

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

[24 blank], 232, [2], [24 blank] pp.Rare ejecutorias de hidalguía of the Echeniques y Aguirres family. The work is beautifully bound in contemporary richly gold-tooled morocco and it is handsomely decorated throughout with contemporary hand-coloured borders, which are highligh...

De contemptu mu[n]di epistola.Antwerp, Michiel Hillen van Hoogstraten, 1523. 8vo. With a decorative woodcut border on the title page, and 2 decorated woodcut initials. Later vellum.

ERASMUS, Desiderius. · 1488

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

[32] ll.Very rare early edition of Erasmus’ first written work, a letter in praise of monastic life, which was only published later in his career. Erasmus wrote it in 1488 or 1489 when he was 20 years old, at the request of Theodoricus of Haarlem, a fellow canon at the Augusti...

Indes (2e partie) et Ceylan.[ca. 1870-1890]. Oblong album (ca. 31.5 x 35.5 cm). With 125 black-and-white photographic prints mounted on cardboard, accompanied by numerous handwritten annotations in French on the album pages. Near-contemporary half red velvet (spine rubbed/faded).

[PHOTOGRAPHY - INDIA - SRI LANKA]. · 1852

€4,000.00 ($4,408.73 | £3,337.06 | ¥704,017)

[45] ll.A substantial and historically important late 19th-century photograph album comprising 125 photo’s documenting British India and Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka). Of the total, 100 photographs depict India and 25 Ceylon. The album offers a wide-ranging visual survey of a...

Calila et Dimna, ou Fables de Bidpai, en Arabe.Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1816. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. 19th-century purple-ish cloth, with the title lettered in gold on the spine. The cloth around the spine is faded and browned.

[KALILA WA DIMNA]. SILVESTRE DE SACY, Antoine Isaac (editor). · 2002

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

[2], VIII, 140; [8], 315, [1] pp.The complete text of the Arabic version by Ibn al Muqaffa of this collection of animal fables with didactic overtones designed to illustrate wise conduct, printed in the beautiful types of the "Imprimerie Royale", with an introduction and criti...

Het groot tafereel der dwaasheid ...[Amsterdam], 1720. Folio. With the title page printed in red and black and 79 engraved plates (including 1 repeat of plate 54, 3589 Muller), most double-page and several larger folding sheets, including several maps and the plate with the complete set of 52 playing cards (Pasquin variant). The copy contains the register listing 74 items and 4 plates not in Muller’s principal list (Muller 3611-3613 and 3615), but unfortunately lacks plate 18 (3553 Muller). (Near-) Contemporary gold-tooled mottled calf, with the title and year lettered in gold on the spine, sewn on 7 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine. Bound by the Bird's Head Bindery in Amsterdam (ca. 1728-1765?), see Storm van Leeuwen.

[TAFEREEL DER DWAASHEID]. LAW, John (subject). · 1720

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

[1], [1 blank], 25, [1], 52, 31, [1 blank], 8, 10 pp. and 79 engraved plates (2 before the title page).Third edition of one of the most remarkable works in the history of finance. Few books equal the visual power, satirical brilliance, or bibliographical complexity of Het groo...

Het groot tafereel der dwaasheid ...[Amsterdam], 1720. Folio. With the title page printed in red and black and 79 engraved plates, most double-page and several larger folding sheets, including several maps and the plate with the complete set of 52 playing cards. The copy contains the register listing 74 items and 4 plates not in Muller’s principal list (Muller 3611(note), 3612, 3613, and 3615). Contemporary gold-tooled mottled calf, with the title and year lettered in gold on the spine, sewn on 7 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, bound by the Double Drawer Handle Bindery in Amsterdam (Storm van Leeuwen).

[TAFEREEL DER DWAASHEID], LAW, John (subject). · 1720

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

[1], [1 blank], 25, [1], 52, 31, [1 blank], 8, 9, [1 blank] pp. and 79 engraved plates (2 before the title page).Second edition, according to Muller, of one of the most remarkable works in the history of finance. Few books equal the visual power, satirical brilliance, or bibli...

Plaetboec. Vervangende de figuren of formen gehorig tottet wiscontich filosofisch bedryf van Hendric Stevin Heer van Alphen van Schrevelsrecht &c. Begrepen in XIV boeken met een aenhang.[Leiden, Philippe de Croy], 1668. Folio. With 29 double-page engraved plates, a woodcut device on the title page and a woodcut initial. Contemporary vellum, sewn on 4 supports laced through the joints, with a paper (shelfmark?) label at the foot of the spine ("115").

STEVIN, Hendrik. · 1614

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

[2] letterpress ll. and 29 double-page engraved plates.Rare first and only edition of the plate book published as the illustrative companion to Hendrik Stevin’s (1614-1668) Wisconstich filosofisch bedryf (1667). The work contains 29 double-page engraved plates illustrating a w...

Opera omnia, exegetica, didactica & polemica. Quorum seriem versa pagina exhibet. Cum indicibus necessariis. Irenopoli [= Amsterdam], [Daniel Bakkamude for Frans Kuyper], 1656 [=1668]. With: (2) [WOLZOGEN, Johann Ludwig von]. [Operum tomus alter].Irenopoli [= Amsterdam], [Daniel Bakkamude for Frans Kuyper], 1656 [=1668]. 2 volumes bound as 1, the second in 2 parts. Folio. With a woodcut vignette on the divisional title page of each tract, woodcut initials and tailpieces throughout. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum, sewn on 6 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, a red morocco label on the spine with the title “Sligtingii Tome VI” lettered in gold, a central ornament on both boards surrounded by a single and double fillet border, 2 slits for closing ties.

WOLZOGEN, Johann Ludwig von. · 1599

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

[3], [1 blank], 1038; [1], [1 blank], 356; [2], 132, [8] pp.First edition of the complete theological writings of Johann Ludwig von Wolzogen (1599-1661), the Austrian-born baron and one of the most distinguished intellectual figures of early Socinianism. Although often encount...

Edipo Coloneo ... recata in versi Italiani dal Cavaliere Giambatista Giusti.Parma, Co 'Tipi Bodoniani, 1817. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. With: GIUSTI, Giambatista. All'Amica. Odi ... Terza edizione riveduta e corretta dall'autore. Parma, Co 'Tipi Bodoniani, 1817. Contemporary orange boards.

[BODONI]. SOPHOCLES and Giambatista GIUSTI (editor). · 1758

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

[4], LI, [1 blank], 170, [1], [1 blank]; [4], 87, [1 blank] pp.Uncut and unopened copy of the first edition of a famous translation into verse of Oedipus Coloneus, one of Sophocles' most widely known tragedies. The work has here been bound with Cavaliere Giambatista Giusti's (...

Codex antiquissimus a Rufio Turcio Aproniano V.C. distinctus et emendatus qui nunc Florentiae in Bibliotheca Mediceo-Laurentiana adservatur bono publico typis descriptus anno MDCCXLI.Florence, Typis Mannianis (the printer Joseph and his son Domenico Maria Manni), [1741]. 4to (25.5 x 18 cm). With an engraved dedication by the editor Pietro Francesco Fogginio to the members of the prestigious Académie Royale des inscriptions et beaux-arts as a frontispiece, an engraved vignette on the title page (a portrait of Virgil holding a mask) engraved by "Sarder ex Mus. Medic.". An engraved illustration of Virgil as a headpiece at the start of the text, engraved after the portrait in one of the two other late antique Virgil manuscripts: the Virgilius Romanus in the Vatican library (Cod. Vat. 3867). Further with a beautiful engraved historiated initial on the same page; engraved specimen of three lines of the manuscript (13 x 3 cm) on p. XV; and two tailpieces (on pp. XVI and 459). The text is printed in red and black (the title page, the first lines and corrections in the text). Contemporary gold-tooled red morocco.

VIRGILIUS MARO, Publius. · 1600

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

[4], XXXVI, 459 pp.Original edition of an extraordinary and very interesting "facsimile edition" with typographical means, considered as the earliest facsimile edition of an ancient manuscript ever made (perhaps with the exception of Hugo Grotius’ edition the Leiden Aratus man...

Heures nouvelles tirées de la Sainte Ecriture. Ecrites et gravées par L. Senault.Paris, for the author and Claude De Hansy, [after 1690]. 8vo. With the text fully engraved and set within a double fillet border, a richly engraved title, 5 full-page engraved plates including a frontispiece, numerous engraved historiated initials and decorative head- and tailpieces. Contemporary brown Morocco, with the text "Heure de cour" lettered in gold on the spine.

SENAULT, Louis (calligrapher & engraver). · 1660

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

[2], 1-46, 48-223, 223-260 pp.Beautifully engraved Book of Hours, dedicated to Marie Anne Christine Victoire of Bavaria (1660-1690), Dauphine of France, and one of the finest examples of Louis Senault's engraved devotional books. The celebrated Parisian writing master, calligr...

Traitté des ceremonies superstitieuses des juifs tant anciens que modernes.Amsterdam, Jacob Smith [= (Israel de Paull for) Jan Rieuwertsz. Sr.], 1678. 12mo. With a woodcut vignette on title page (ornament E in the description of Van de Ven). Contemporary mottled calf.

[SPINOZA, Benedictus de]. · 1670

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

[1], [1 blank], [28], 531, [30], [1 blank], 30 pp.First French edition of Spinoza's famous Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), printed by Israel de Paull for Jan Riewertsz. Sr. in Amsterdam, but appearing with the false imprint of "Hamburg, Henricus Künrath". The original L...