Kisses : a poetical translation of the Basia of Joannes Secundus Nicolaı̈us. With the original Latin, and an essay on his life and writings [Extra-Illustrated] by Secundus, Johannes - 1778

Amsterdam, Jacob Beniamin,1653.4to. Later marbled boards. With engraved title, 3 engraved plates and 26 full or half-page engravings in the text. 292 pp.First Dutch edition, first published in London in 1615: A relation of a journey begun an.Dom. 1610. Foure bookes, containing a description of the Turkish Empire, of Egypt, of the Holy Land, of the remote parts of Italy, and islands adjoyning - George Sandys (1578-1644) was the son of the Archbishop of York and a literary figure of some standing. In 1609 he set sail for the East and he spent the next year travelling in Turkey, Egypt and Palestine and later studied antiquities in Rome. His observations first appeared in English in 1615 and his text was soon regarded as a special authority on the Levant. He has been called the first 'classical tourist' of England. Sandys also was interested in colonial promotion, and was one of the undertakers named in the third charter of the Virginia Company in 1611, and later treasurer and a member of the Council. He… Read More

Harderwijk, Dirk en Jan Rampen, 1707.4to. Old half cloth. With large woodcut vignette on title-page and 18 woodcuts in the text. 96 pp.First edition was published in Amsterdam in 1648; with bookplate of J. Verheus. - Shipwreck on a desert island, hunger, and cannibalism are the themes in this journal kept by Franz Janszoon van der Heiden, a member of the crew. The ship left Batavia (Jakarta) under captain Jacob Jansz. Stroom in 1661 and wrecked on a sandbank off the shore of Bengal and finally reached mainland Bengal where they were conscripted into the Mogul army to fight against the kingdom of Assam. The gruesome massacre of captives by the Nabob is described and followed by accounts of the kingdoms of Arrakan, Martabab, Tanassery, Bengala and Patan along the coast of the Bay of Bengal from modern Bangladesh to Burma. One of the most well-known Dutch books of a disastrous voyage by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). - Fine.Landwehr, VOC, 422; Tiele 462; Cat. NHSM I, p.188; Huntress 23 C; Lach,… Read More

Utrecht, Johannes Ribbius, 1687.4to. Later half vellum, with old brocade-paper to boards. With folding map (mounted on Japanese paper) and 8 engraved plates (3 folding). 222,(10) pp.First Dutch edition. - The treatise by the scholar, Job (Hiob) Ludolf (1624-1704), was first published in Latin, Historia Aethiopica, in 1681, and is regarded as the first authoritative account of Abyssinia. He has been called the 'founder of Ethiopian studies in Europe'. Although he never visited the country, Ludolf formed a close working relationship with an Ethiopian monk resident in Rome, himself clearly a highly intelligent man. From this fruitful partnership emerged grammars and dictionaries of the classical Ethiopian language as well as a lengthy history of the country. The large folding map by Tellez, is a landmark of cartography, as it is the first to show the source of the Blue Nile at Lake Tana. The fine plates depict illustrations of Ethiopean fauna, a banana plant, decapitation of missionnaries, etc. A… Read More

(Persian) Falconry.Husam al-Dawlah Taymur Mirza. The Baz-nama-yi Nasiri. A Persian Treatise on Falconry, translated by D. C. (Douglas Craven) Phillott, 1st edition, Bernard Quaritch, 1908, One of 500 copies.Description: halftone illustrations in the text, original publisher's green pictorial cloth with gilt reproduction of ancient Persian ms. with falconer on horseback, gilt-lettered spine, one minor worm hole through bottom margin first few pages, 8vo 25.5 x 17 cm. Kept in, and comes with, non adhesive transparent dust jacket. See pics for overall condition.Blanc front and end papers, half title page, frontispiece with clean protective tissue, title page, dedication page in English and one in Farsi, xxiv and 195 pp and illustrated with 25 illustrations of Persian paintings, animals, and original ms. Quaritch printer's device to last leaf (see pics).Notes: - Wood; p. 519; Zimmer p. 623. One of 500 copies only. The author was a grandson of Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar (1772-1834) and a respected authority on… Read More

J. Osborn and T. Longman, 1728. Leather Binding. Very Good. An attractive copy of the Seventh edition from 1728. Bound in period boards, expertly rebacked in brown polished calf, spine with raised bands and tooling in gilt and blind. Rebacking in fine condition, original boards show wear; text has a handful of ink marks, some smudging and stains; what apears to be an early ink ownership inscription on front endpaper of 'F.W. Childs, London.'.

London: Cassell & Company, 1935. First Edition. First edition of Lawrence Durrell's first novel. Highly autobiographical in character, an apprentice effort, Durrell's novel sank largely without trace. And as with so many unsold titles, the majority of copies were destroyed during the Blitz. Blue boards with the barest hint of rubbing to edges; no dustjacket, spine incorrectly lettered Pied Pipers of Lovers, bookseller's price on front free endpaper, slight spotting to fore and top-edges, otherwise a clean, solid, well-preserved copy of Lawrence's exceedingly scarce first novel.

London: Mr. Bowyer, Historic Gallery, Letter-press by T. Bensley, from Figgins's types., 1794. Hardcover. Very Good. Copperplates (29 views of India) drawn by Robert Home engraved by Hawksworth, Skelton et al. + folding Plans (3 of 4, lacks Plan of Bangalore).. Royal quarto (33.5x28.5cm) speckled leather spine gilt ruled with orange gilt spine title label. Covers of wood-grain marbled paper (edges rubbed with vellum tips showing). First leaf of Urdu script (facing titlepage), vii (inc. titlepage, dedication & Preface) +[1]p blank) +[1] leaf of Inscriptions (on monuments shown in Plate 7) + 48pp of text, with 12 leaves of Urdu script keyed to first page number of each section (versos blank) and 29 plates as called for, + folding Plan of Ootradoog, folding Plan of the Carnatic and Mysore drawn by M. Armstrong June 1792, and finally larger folding Plan showing position of Confederate Armies under Earl Cornwallis before Seringapatam in February 1792. Small repair without loss to 1 inch of this final… Read More

London: Martin Secker, First edition 1916.. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 324 pages. Original maroon cloth in good tight clean condition, lettered and ruled in black Top edge slightly dusty Front pastedown with two neat owners' signatures. Endpapers slightly browned. Dustjacket, unclipped, with only minor wear and rubbing to edges. The spine slightly browned. Despite these minor blemishes the volume presents very well. Important first novel by Welsh author Herbert Millingchamp Vaughan, 1870-1948. A rare dystopian science fiction work in which a vellum scroll is found in a metal cylinder in the Andes. This relates the dystopian history of the miniature planet Meleager, where the practice of eugenics ensures the death of defective children and where women have no power or political rights A rare book with a possible influence on Charlotte Haldane's Man's World and feminist dystopian literature generally, especially in the areas of eugenics and male patriarchy

J. Osborn and T. Longman, 1728. Leather Binding. Very Good. An attractive copy of the Seventh edition from 1728. Bound in period boards, expertly rebacked in brown polished calf, spine with raised bands and tooling in gilt and blind. Rebacking in fine condition, original boards show wear; text has a handful of ink marks, some smudging and stains; what apears to be an early ink ownership inscription on front endpaper of 'F.W. Childs, London.'.

William Iones, 1629. First Edition. Leather Binding. Very Good. Extremely rare (Worldcat records a handful or surviving copies, no copies at auction since 1977). A very good copy, bound in period brown calf, spine with raised bands, spine and covers ruled in blind, red edges. The binding has some unusual features, being without pastedowns, also with text being sewn into the boards, and false 'endpapers' being blanks inserted at front and rear, with stubs (instead of an actual endpaper). The binding has been expertly rebacked in brown calf, preserving original spine, offset to pastedowns fom the leather turn-ins has led to some flaws to edges of endpapers and first and last leaves. Ink signature on rear blank appears to read 'Ed[ward] Shallcross'(?). Notes: Dedication signed: Thomas Paybody. The words 'Fully ... Methodically' are enclosed in brackets on the t.p. With printed marginal notes. Description: [12], 496 pages 4o, Other Titles: Just apology for the gesture of kneeling ... STC 19488.… Read More