Asher Rare Books

Important description of the South Africa interior, with 9 hand-coloured plates (7 showing indigenous Africans)

LE VAILLANT, François. Voyage de Monsieur Le Vaillant dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique.
Paris, Leroy (colophon vol. 2: printed by Lottin l'aîné & Lottin), 1790. 2 volumes. 8vo. With the publisher's woodcut device on each title-page, engraved frontispiece, 2 folding engraved views and 9 numbered engraved plates (7 costume figures of indigenous Africans and 2 illustrations of giraffes).With the 9 numbered plates coloured by a contemporary hand. Contemporary half calf, richly gold-tooled flat spines. XXIV, 383; 403 pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Anthropology & Ethnography Costumes & Uniforms Travel & Voyages Africa

First edition of Livingstone's account of his first mission to southern Africa, with 27 plates,
including the first published view of Victoria Falls

LIVINGSTONE, David. Missionary travels and researches in South Africa; including a sketch of sixteen years' residence in the interior of Africa, and a journey from the Cape of Good Hope to Loanda on the west coast; thence across the continent, down the river Zambesi, to the eastern ocean.
London, John Murray (back of title-page: W. Clowes and sons), 1857. 8vo. With a folding tinted lithographed plate as frontispiece, a wood-engraved illustration on the title-page, a lithographed portrait of Livingstone, 20 lithographed plates, 2 tinted lithographed plates, a folding lithographed plate with a geological cross section, a lithographed folding map of southern Africa, a lithographed folding map pasted on cloth, with Livingstone's route from west to east Africa highlighted in red, and many wood-engraved illustrations in text. Original publisher's blind-blocked brown cloth. IX, [1], 687, [1], 8 pp. Full description

€ 1,350

Travel & Voyages Africa

British admiral's eye witness report of Arab slavers activity in Zanzibar

LLOYD, Rodney Maclaine. Reporting proceedings on detached boat service.
Zanzibar, 9 July 1886. Folio (ca. 20 x 32 cm), with the Britannia watermark. Signed manuscript letter. Loose single sheet. [1] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Autographs & Letters Manuscripts & Documents Naval History Slavery UK - United Kingdom

Pioneering study of Ethiopia, by the future master of the subject

LUDOLF, Job (Hiob LUDOLPHUS). Sciagraphia historiae Aethiopicae, sive regni Abessinorum, quod vulgo perperam Presbyteri Johannis vocatur, deo volente, aliquando in lucem proditurae.
Jena, Samuel Krebs, 1676. 4to. Set in roman types with some italic, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic and especially Ethiopic type. Late 19th-century textured blue half cloth. [40] pp. Full description

€ 9,500

Travel & Voyages Africa

The butterflies of Madagascar, with 63 plates

MABILLE, Paul. Histoire naturelle des Lépidoptères de Madagascar.
Paris, l'Imprimerie Nationale, 1885-1887. 2 volumes (text & atlas). Large 4to (32 x 25 cm). With 63 aquatint plates printed in brown and black. Later brown half morocco. [4], V, [1 blank], 364 pp. Full description

€ 975

Butterflies / Lepidoptera Insects & Spiders Southern Africa

Adventurous travels in the East

MANDELSLO, Johann Albrecht von. Morgenländische Reyse-Beschreibung.
Hamburg, Christian Guth, printed by Johan Holwein, Schleswig, 1658. Folio. With engraved frontispiece by Christian Rothgiesser, engraved author's portrait, double-page engraved map, and 21 large engravings in text, mostly signed by Rothgiesser. Contemporary pigskin, with boards blind-tooled in a panel design. [32], 248, [36] pp. Full description

€ 11,000

Ceylon Eastern Europe Formosa / Taiwan India & Sri Lanka Indonesia / Dutch East Indies Iran / Persia Japan & Far East Russia (incl. Siberia) Southeast Asia Southern Africa Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages East Asia Travel & Voyages Europe Travel & Voyages Middle East Travel & Voyages Southeast Asia Travel & Voyages Southern Asia West Asia

Poetic descriptions of Batavia, India, the Cape, Dutch country estates and notable persons

MARRE, Jan de. Batavia, begrepen in zes boeken.
Amsterdam, Adriaan Wor & heirs of G. onder de Linden, 1740.
With:
(2) MARRE, Jan de. Bespiegelingen over gods wysheid in't bestier der schepselen, en eerkroon voor de Caab de Goede Hoop.
Amsterdam, Adriaan Wor & heirs of G. onder de Linden, 1746.
(3) MARRE, Jan de. Hof- en mengeldichten.
Amsterdam, Adriaan Wor & heirs of G. onder de Linden, 1746.
3 works in 1 volume, the first in 6 parts. 4to. With an engraved frontispiece and an elaborate title-vignette (identical on all three title-pages. And ad. 1 with a folding engraved plate of Jakarta "as it was in 1731" by Jan van der Laan. Contemporary vellum, red spine label. [36], 320, [6]; [42], 178, [22], [20], 214, [4] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Ceylon Dutch Literature Indonesia / Dutch East Indies Southeast Asia Southern Africa VOC

Blown off course: a trade mission to Vietnam ends badly

MÉNIOLLE, François Valentin. Journal et Correspondance, Septembre 1817 à Février 1819. [Narrative of a failed trade mission to Vietnam and India].
[India and other places, 1817-1819]. 4to (ca. 18 x 22 cm). French manuscript on laid paper. Contemporary half vellum. 95, [ca. 78 blank] ll. Full description

€ 12,500

Economic History & Trade India & Sri Lanka Logbooks Manuscripts & Documents Southeast Asia Southern Africa Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Southeast Asia Travel & Voyages Southern Asia

The climate of the East African coast

[ARABIAN GULF]. Weather in the Indian Ocean to Latitude 30° S. and Longitude 95° E. Including the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Volume II. Local information. Part 9 Coast of East Africa from the equator to Cape Delgado [...].
London, Meteorological Office, Air Ministry, 1940. 8vo. With map frontispiece and several illustrations and tables in the text. Original publisher's printed red wrappers. 63 pp., final blank page. Full description

€ 1,500

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Iran / Persia Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Middle East

In search of curiosities in the West Indies, Africa, and the Holy Land

MOCQUET, Jean. De grote nieuw-bereisde wereld: begrypende zes reizen, zo na Lybien, d'Eilanden van Kanarien en Barbaryen; stroom der Amazonen, Karipouzen en Karibanen; na Marocco; Moren-Land of Ethiopien, Mozambique en Goa; als mede na Syrien en een zeer nauwkeurige beschrijvinge van't Heilig Land ... Den tweden druk.
Leeuwarden, Jan Klassen (colophon: printed by Meindert Injema), 1717. 4to. With an engraved title-page, 3 etched plates, and some woodcut decorated initials and tail pieces. Contemporary vellum, later endpapers. [19], [1 blank], 195, [1 blank] pp. Full description