Rare books from ARTEM

Preparatory drawing by Jakob van der Schley (1715-1779) for his famous print depicting execution methods that were supposedly used on Sri Lanka: crushing by a mounted elephant, impalement and hanging. The print was made by Van der Schley for Antoine Francois Prevost d'Exile's Histoire Generale des Voyages, published by Pierre de Hondt in The Hague1746-1789. It is included in volume VIII, where it accompanies the part on Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The part on Sri Lanka was largely derived from Robert Knox's An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon (1681), which was also illustrated with a plate showing the execution by elephant. Van der Schley modeled his composition after that example, but made drastic artistic improvements. His drawing is of a much higher artistic quality compared to the rudimentary manner in which the execution by elephant was made in Knox's work. Another difference is the other execution methods that are depicted. In Knox's illustration the other victim was tied to a pole, but in the… Read More

Bombay-printed description of Gujarat and beyond
ombay, printed at the Times' Press, by James Chesson, 1849.
Folio (29x23,5 cm.). [14], 408, VIII, [2], IX-XXIV pp. Illustrated with several plans of palaces.
First edition, printed at Bombay, of a very thorough, lengthy description of "Gujarashtra" (present-day Gujarat, India). One of the very few copies of this Bombay-printed first edition: WorldCat records only 1 copy, digitized by the University of Bradford.
Henry Briggs was born in Bombay, October 20, 1824. He travelled in South Africa in 1843, in China in1845, and settled in Bombay in 1846 to work in the office of his father: Briggs & Co. Meanwhile he started writing about India. First he edited the Sindian (1854) and in 1855 the Sind Kossid. In 1856 he became assistant secretary at Bombay to the G.I.P. Railway. His first published book was the present Cities of Gujdrashtra, "containing curious information gleaned from travellers in India: of whose rare works he made an extensive collection"… Read More

Calvert's rarest print album
London, Hodgson & Co, 1823.
Oblong 4°
(24 x 16,5 cm.). With 24 soft ground etched plates and title. Original publisher's half morocco with printed front cover. With original tissue guards.
Very rare plate album by Irish landscape painter Frederick Calvert, complete with 24 "picturesque views" and in the original binding. Calvert moved to England in 1815 and, besides painting, produced a number of print albums and model books, a.o. The young artist's instructor (London, Hodgson and Co., 1823) and Rural scenery (London, Hodgson and Co., ca. 1825). He designed plates for Picturesque views ... in Staffordshire and Shropshire (Birmingham, William Emans, 1830-1831), and for A new and compendious history, of the county of Warwick (Birmingham, William Emans, 1830). Perhaps his most famous work was for The Isle of Wight illustrated (1846).
The present work is the rarest of Calvert's published oeuvre, with just 4 copies recorded in WorldCat and none at auction. It formed the basis… Read More

English Rococo furniture models
[London, John Weale, ca. 1830].
Folio (33x26 cm.). 24 leaves with 24 numbered engraved plates. Green morocco with gilt title on spine.
Large model book for carpenters giving designs for highly rococo tables, mirrors, chimney-pieces, and cartouches. The designs were made by the two leading artists in mid-18th century wood carving and design: Thomas Chippendale and Matthias Lock. This is one of two such model books, the other being a smaller oblong with the name Mathew Lock at the end of the title instead of Chippendale, see Rijksmuseum RP-P-2020-106. The present folio album has six cartouches depicting large Rococo designs against a landscape with classical ruins were probably by Chippendale and the rest by Lock.
Their work remained influential in the early 19th century as the summum of good taste. "It is by means of such a charming book of designs as the above that Art taste will be instilled into the minds of the working Artists and Mechanics. It is Books versus the… Read More

Rage against missions: a landmark anti-colonialist treatise
Haarlem, Joh. Enschedé en Zoonen & J. van Walré, 1807.
4°. [4], X, [2], 27, [1 blank], 296 pp. With two engraved medallions on the first title-page.
First edition of a landmark Dutch anti-colonialist and anti-missionary treatise. This controversial and heavily criticized work marks a shift in thinking about the Western influence around the world. It is a rare work and here in excellent. Only a few copies are recorded in libraries outside The Netherlands.
At the end of November 1803, the Teyler's Religious Society in Haarlem organized a competition. A treatise was to be prepared on the question, "What service have missionaries done to the propagation of true Christianity in the past two centuries, and what fruit is there been to expected from the present active missionary societies in this regard?". On November 30, 1804, Haafner's manuscript of 195 pages arrived. This turned out to be the only entry, making it inevitable to crown him the… Read More

Very large broadside statistical overview of France in 1824
Paris, Belin-Leprieur, printed by Imprimerie de Jules Didot aîné, June 1824.
Plano (69x100 cm.). Letterpress text, engraved title and illustrated with an engraved ornamental border on thick paper without watermark.
€ 2.400
Impressively large and very rare French broadside table providing a detailed overview of the statistics on population, geography and economy of the 57 départemens of France for the year 1824. It does so in an extremely structured manner. Of each administrative region the precise geographic and topographic values are given, after which the specialization in natural or industrial productivity of these regions is described. For example, the département Calvados has "excellent horses, bestieux fat, grains, cider, cider brandy, flax, hemp" etc. etc. According to a contemporary review in Revue encyclopédique (1825), this table was considered especially useful to understand the importance of each of the départements, and… Read More

Wilson's first published Sanskrit translation, the first publication of the Meghadūta in the West
Kālidāsa (c. 4th–5th century CE); Horace Hayman Wilson (1786-1860, trans.).

The Megha Duta, or Cloud Messenger, a poem, in the Sanscrit language.

Calcutta printed: London reprinted, Black, Parry, and Co., 1814.

8°. XXII, 23-175 pp. Later half calf, marbled sides.First English translation of the Meghadūta, the most renowned text by India's greatest ancient poet. This famous Sanskrit love poem became popular in Europe in the early 19th century, chiefly because of the present translation by Horace Wilson. Written in the 4th-5th century by the Classical Sanskrit author Kālidāsa, it tells the story of a lover who sends his message to his beloved by a cloud. The present edition includes Wilson's commentaries on his translation of the ancient poem.
Translator Horace Wilson was the first professor of Sanskrit at Oxford. He made his name through his many translations of ancient Sanskrit texts. For… Read More

Confidential diplomatic letter,
laying out the opportunities for a new Dutch-Cuban sugar trade company
Guillermo Lobé (1785-1883).
[Autograph letter signed].
Havana, June 18, 1827.
4to. 13, [3 blank] pp. Ink on laid paper, with a watercolour drawing on a larger 4to loose wove paper sheet dated 1827.
Important confidential manuscript letter by the Dutch-Spanish diplomat Guillermo Lobé, in which he lays out the commercial and geo-political situation of Cuba in detail. The letter is accompanied by a drawing that possibly depicts a valley in Cuba and is dated on verso in ink 1827.
In the densely written 12-page letter he writes to an anonymous "old family friend", who he met in Antwerp. Apparently this friend was was planning to establish a Dutch-Cuban sugar trade company or "Société du Commerce" and asked Lobé to provide him with information about the international trade in Cuba and Havana in particular. Lobé praises the commercial opportunities of the island and predicts a great future for its… Read More

The rarest book from the first printing press in the Arab World
Annuaire de la République Française, calculé pour le méridien du Kaire, l'an VIII de l'ere Française.
Cairo, de l'Imprimerie Nationale, an VIII [1799/1800].
4⁰. 119 pp. With a woodcut printer's device on title. Contemporary red painted paper wrappers.
One of the first books from the first printing press in the Arab World. The first issues from the Imprimerie Nationale are true incunabula of Arab printing and all are very rare. Most elusive amongst these is the present first almanac. We traced no copies in Arab or American libraries. The press lasted only until 1801.
The Imprimerie Nationale was set up when Napoleon traveled to Egypt in 1798: "an extraordinarily important turning point" (Glass & Roper). The French Republic aimed to bring progress wherever they arrived. In the case of Egypt this permanently changed the Arab World. Progress was predominantly expressed in administrative reform, of which the present almanac is typical… Read More

Scarce first German combined edition of Goeree's manuals for painting, drawing and watercolouringWillem Goeree (1635-1711).
Anweisung zu der Mahler-Kunst, worinnen nebst derselben Fürtrefflichkeit und Nutzen gezeiget wird, was einer zum gründlichen Verstand der Mahler-Kunst wissen, und wie er sich durch Ubung darinnen perfectioniren soll; nebst einem gründlichen Unterricht von der Reiß- und Zeichen- wie auch Illuminir-Kunst, oder dem rechten Gebrauch der Wasser-Farben.
Leipzig, Friedrich Lanckischens Erben, 1744.
3 parts in 1 volume. 8°. [8], 132, [4], 120, [2], 98 pp. With a woodcut vignette on title-page, several woodcut head- and tailpieces.
Modern half calf with marbled sides.
Very rare (WorldCat: 1 copy) first German edition of the collected artists' manuals by the Dutch author Willem Goeree. It combines the manuals by Willem Goeree on oil painting, drawing and watercolouring. These were originally published in Dutch as:
- Verlichtery-konst, in de welcke den rechten grondt, ende volkomen… Read More

Rare study on monkeys and other mammals of Paraguay: important influence on DarwinJohann Rudolf Rengger (1795-1832).
Naturgeschichte der Saeugethiere von Paraguay.
Basel, Schweighauser, 1830.
8vo. XVI, 394 pp. 19,5 x 12 cm.
Contemporary half calf with gold-tooled spine.

First and only edition of Johann Rudolf Rengger's study on mammals of Paraguay, in which he first describes the giant otter and makes important behavioural observations on monkeys that would influence Darwin's philosophy. In 1818 Rengger, a Swiss doctor, embarked on a scientific journey to the understudied region of Paraguay with the aim to research the natural history of the region and to collect specimens. Though he amassed a large collection of flora and fauna much of it was later confiscated by the Paraguayan government. He made extensive trips during which he observed the physical-geographical as well as the social and ethnographic situation. In 1825 he returned to Europe. His findings were posthumously published in the… Read More

With all folding maps finely handcolouredBiblia, dat is de gantsche H. Schrifture, vervattende alle de canonijcke boecken des Ouden en des Nieuwen Testaments.
Dordrecht, (colophon: printed by) H. and J. Keur and Amsterdam, M. Doornick in compagnie, 1686.
Elephant folio. [20], 302, [2] 134, [11], 164, [2], 66 ff. With 6 folding handcoloured engraved plates (complete) and an engraved title-page.
Contemporary blind-tooled calf with complete copper fittings. Modern calf spine.
Beautifully illustrated copy of the 1686 Dutch "Keur" Bible edition, the standard Bible of the Dutch Reformed Church, corresponding to Luther's version in Germany and King James' Bible in England. This copy with all 6 folding maps nicely contemporary handcoloured, clean and crisp. The plates by Bastiaen Stoopendaal (1637-1707) depict respectively the world (with America and Australia still incomplete); "Paradise" i.e. the Middle East; The Journey of the Children of Israel (Sinai Peninsula and Israel region); city plan of Jerusalem;… Read More

Founding Royal ordinance for the Corps of Invalids of New Spain
Antonio Maria Bucareli y Ursua (1717-1779, Viceroy of New Spain).
Reglamento formado para el cuerpo de invalidos de Nueva España por el Excmo. Sr. Bailio Fr. D. Antonio Maria Bucareli y Ursua Virrey Governador y Capitan General de ella, aprobado por S. M. en Real Orden de trece de Junio de 1773.
Mexico City, Joseph Antonio de Hogal, 1774.
Folio. [2], 19, [1 blank] pp. Collates: π, A-D2, π.
With the woodcut Royal coat of arms on the title. Signature of Viceroy Bucareli in ink on the final page.
Modern stiff marbled paper covers, leaves remargined in order to match the size of the volume. In linen made-to-measure case with title on front.
Very rare first and only edition of the founding document for the establishment of the Corps of Invalids in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This Royal ordinance marks a crucial step in the military organisation of the Spanish Americas and greatly expanded the colonial military presence there.The Cuerpo de… Read More

Founding document and constitution of the Republic of Colombia
Simón Bolívar (1783-1830).
Constitucion de la Republica de Colombia.
Rosario de Cucuta [but Bogotá], Bruno Espinosa, Impresor de Gob. Gral., 1821.- 11°.
4°. 66 pp. (lacks V pp. preliminaries). Collates: π, B-I4, [K1].
Later half calf with decorated paper sides.
First edition of the first constitution of Gran Colombia, known as the Constitution of Cúcuta. A monument of post-colonial liberty and arguably the most important book ever printed in Latin America. Gran Colombia consisted of current Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, northern Peru, western Guyana and northwest Brazil. This is one of the very few copies that were printed of the first edition. A decree in this volume prints the order to reprint the constitution at Bogota in two or three thousand copies and to print one thousand copies of a Caracas edition. Rio and Philadelphia would also print editions in 1822.The publication of this document meant the realization of Simón… Read More

Large VOC watercolour view of Porto Praia, Cape Verde
Johann Christian Friderici [= Frederici] (Heldburg 1766 - Cape Town 1804).
Prospect van het eyland, en de rheede van St. Iago. Geteekend van Johann Christian Friderici / Verbeelding van de inwoonders op St Iago.
Porto Praia, Cape Verde, 1783.
Watercolour with ruled black ink border on laid paper, watermarked Pro Patria with Maid of Dort. 29,5 x 120,5 cm.
The largest recorded early modern panoramic view of Cape Verde, by "the best VOC map maker in South Africa" (Koeman). This is his earliest known work.Santiago's Porto Praia is the main harbour of Cape Verde. It served as an important transportation hub of enslaved African people to the Americas and for the restocking of ships bound for the Cape with salt and fresh foods. These two functions of the island are depicted in the cartouche in the top right. It shows an African family and examples of livestock: a turkey and a goat. The man wears clothes that are also seen in depictions of plantation… Read More