Asher Rare Books

Much enlarged edition of a classic of natural history and discoveries in the Far East

SONNERAT, Pierre. Voyage aux Indes Orientales et à la Chine, fait par ordre de Louis XVI, depuis 1774 jusqu'en 1781; dans lequel on traite des moers, de la religion, des sciences et des arts des Indiens, des Chinois, des Pégouins et des Madégasses; suivi d'observations sur le Cap de Bonne-Espérance, les îles de France et de Bourbon, les Maldives, Ceylan, Malacca, les Philippines et les Moluques, et de rechereches sur l'histoire naturelle de ces pays, etc, etc. ... Nouvelle édition.
Paris, Dentu, 1806. 4 text volumes (8vo) and 1 atlas (4to). With 140 numbered engraved plates: a double-page plan of the city of Pondichéry, India, 19 double- and 120 single-page views and plates. Contemporary red half sheepskin (text) and modern red half cloth (atlas). Text volumes: XXVIII, 372; [4], 445; [4], 412, [2]; [4], 488, [1] pp. Full description

€ 4,500

Ceylon China Expeditions & General Natural History Faunas & General Zoology Floras & General Botany France Southeast Asia Southern Africa Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages East Asia Travel & Voyages Southeast Asia

A raunchy satire of country life in Holland ca. 1700 with appendices on the Cape,
East Indies and fictitious Isle of Pines

SPAAN, Gerrit van. Het koddig en vermakelyk leven van Louwtje van Zevenhuizen, of het schermschool der huislieden, vervat in twee deelen. Waar agter gevoegt is de Afrikaansche en Aziaansche weg-wijzer, ...
Rotterdam, Pieter de Vries, 1752. 4 parts in 2 volumes, bound as 1. 8vo. With engraved allegorical frontispiece, a letterpress general title-page, 4 part-titles. Contemporary mottled calf, richly gold-tooled spine. [20], 483 pp. Full description

€ 4,500

Caricature & Satire Ceylon Formosa / Taiwan Imaginary Voyages & Utopias India & Sri Lanka Indonesia / Dutch East Indies Southeast Asia Southern Africa VOC

A prosecutors enquiry into the traumatic 1796 Dutch capitulation
at Saldanha Bay near the Cape of Good Hope

SPOORS, Jakob. Rapport van Jakob Spoors, als fiscaal van den Hoogen Zee-krygsraad, omtrend het gedrag van den capitein Engelbertus Lucas en verdere commandanten der schepen behoord hebbende tot het esquader in den jaare 1796. Naar de Oost-Indien gedestineerd; benevens de resolutie en sententie ten deze door den Hoogen Zee Krygsraad genomen en geslagen.
The Hague, 's Lands-Drukkery, 1798. 8vo. With the woodcut great seal of the Batavian Republic - the French-dominated republican government of the Netherlands from 1795 to 1806 - on the title-page (an allegorical female figure representing Freedom, with spear and freedom hat and with her hand on a book on a stand, next to the Dutch lion holding a Dutch flag). Modern blue cloth, title in gold on spine, new endpapers. [2], 151, [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Law & Politics Military History (18th Century) Naval History Southern Africa

Autograph letter by the great African explorer

[AUTOGRAPH]. STANLEY, Henry Morton. [Autograph letter, signed].
[London]. 1900 8vo. Signed autograph letter from the African explorer Henry Morton Stanley to the governor of Natal and Zululand Sir Walter Francis Hely-Hutchinson, written on paper with an embossed address. 1, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Autographs & Letters

Unconventional travel account giving a fresh look at the declining Dutch overseas empire

STAVORINUS, Johan Splinter. Voyages par le Cap de Bonne-Espérance dans l'archipel des Molucques, de 1768 a 1771 et de 1774 a 1778 ...
Paris, Maradan, 1805. 3 volumes. 8vo. With 4 engraved plates (3 folding) and 5 folding engraved maps. 19th-century gold-tooled half sheepskin. VII, [1 blank], 5-386; 361, [7]; VIII, “434” [= 430], [2] pp. Full description

€ 1,450

Indonesia / Dutch East Indies Slavery Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Southeast Asia VOC

Colourful account of a shipwreck near Mauritius

STOKRAM, Andries. Korte beschryvinghe van de ongeluckige weer-om-reys van het schip Aernhem, nevens noch zes andere schepen, onder't gebiedt van den heer Arnout de Vlaming van Outshoorn, van Batavia na het vaderlandt afgevaren, op den 23. december 1661. van welcke gemelte schepen noch drie vermist worden.
Amsterdam, Jacob Venckel, 1663. Small 4to (19.5 x 16 cm). Modern marbled wrappers. 16 pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Dutch Literature Mutiny, Piracy & Shipwrecks VOC

Best edition of Strabo's "Geographika" including Casaubon's notes, with descriptions of the Arabian Peninsula

STRABO. Rerum geographicarum libri XVII.
Paris, typis Regiis [Fédéric Morel], 1620. 2 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With title-page printed in red and black with the engraved coat of arms of Louis XIII, and several woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Contemporary gold-tooled parchment, gilt edges. [12], 843, [112]; [4], 282, [8] pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Aldine Press Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Geography Iran / Persia North Africa & Egypt

Authoritative history of the Portuguese missions in Ethiopia and Arabia, with a folding map

TELLEZ (TELLES), Balthasar. The travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia: containing ... travels in Arabia Felix, wherein many things of that country ... are treated of, as a particular description of Aden, Moca, and several other places ...
London, J. Knapton [and 3 others, and sold by 5 more], 1710. 4to. With engraved map of Ethiopia, including part of the Red Sea and the source of the Blue Nile. Modern calf. [4], 264, [16] pp. Full description

€ 25,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Charts & Maps Church History & Missions Jesuits Slavery Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Middle East

Parliamentary papers on settling land disputes in Transvaal, Bechuanaland and Pondoland

[TRANSVAAL ROYAL COMMISSION]. Report of the commissioners appointed to inquire into and report upon all matters relating to the settlement of the Transvaal territory. Part 1[-2].With:- Further correspondence respecting the affairs of the Transvaal and adjacent territories.- Further correspondence respecting the affairs of the Bechuanaland and adjacent territories.- Report of the commissioners appointed to determine land claims and to effect a land settlement in British Bechuanaland.- Correspondence respecting the affairs of Pondoland [3 parts].
London, George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1882-1888. 2 volumes. Folio. With a total of 21 folding lithographed maps, many coloured in outline. Contemporary brown cloth. 249, [1]; 121, [1]; VI, 58; VI, 129, [1]; [2], 97, [1]; IV, 25, [1]; XI, [1 blank], 187, [1]; IV, 19, [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Law & Politics Southern Africa

Exceptionally rare treaty between the British Empire and the Island of Anjouan to suppress the slave trade

[TREATY - SLAVE TRADE]. Treaty between Her Majesty the Queen of England and the Sultan of Johanna for the suppression of the slave trade.
Johanna (Anjouan), 1845. Ca. 32.5 x 20.5 cm. Original paper wrappers. 5, [1 blank] pp. Full description