Asher Rare Books

A French translation of Maffei's renowned description of the East and West Indies

MAFFEI, Giovanni Pietro. L'Histoire des Indes Orientales et Occidentales ...
Paris, Robert de Ninville, 1665. 2 volumes bound as 1. 4to. Each volume with a (different) woodcut coat of arms of France and Navarre on the title page. Contemporary mottled calf, gold-tooled spine and board edges. [32], “353” [= 351], [1 blank]; [2], "292" [= 296], [24] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Brazil Caribbean Islands China Church History & Missions Iran / Persia Japan & Far East Latin America Middle America Religion (17th Century) South America Southeast Asia

Maffei's account of the East and West Indies

MAFFEI, Joan Petro. Historiarum Indicarum libri XVI. Selectarum, item, ex India epistolarum libri IV...
Antwerp, Martinus Nutius, 1605. 8vo. With woodcut device on title-page and woodcut initials. Contemporary vellum with faint manuscript title on spine and a small gilt-stamped rooster in the centre of the boards, remains of ties. [72], 478, [2 blank]; 401, [7] pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Brazil History / 17th Century Japan & Far East Jesuits Latin America Middle America Peru South America West Indies

Encompassing collection of turn-of-the-century Magic Lantern slides, many of cavalry horses

[MAGIC LANTERN SLIDES]. [Large collection of more than 400 glass positive magic lantern slides].
[Kopenhagen?], [early 20th century]. More than 400 glass slides depicting various motifs related to coal mining, chemical processes and astronomy, as well as topographical motifs from Asia, Africa, China, Europe and America. Housed in the original publisher's wooden boxes. Includes 2 original projectors and 1 camera. Full description

€ 15,000

Astronomy & Cosmography China Earth Sciences Physics & Chemistry

Extremely rare example of the largest globe engraved by Malby (45.5 cm diameter), with lines of magnetic variation, London 1848, showing “Debai” (Dubai)

[GLOBE - TERRESTRIAL]. MALBY & CO. Malby's terrestrial globe.
[London], Malby & Co. (engraved by Chas. Malby), 1 January 1848. Diameter: 45.5 cm (18 inch), height in stand: 64.5 cm. An engraved terrestrial globe with 12 gores and 2 polar caps over a plaster-covered core, and the engraved horizon ring on the wooden stand, all coloured by a contemporary hand. In a contemporary wooden stand with 3 turned legs supporting the horizon ring, and 3 turned stretchers with a cylindrical centrepiece with a knob on the underside. Further with a contemporary brass hour circle and a slightly later iron meridian ring (and probably the axis pivots). Full description

€ 35,000

Atlases & Globes Navigation

Letter by Pierre-Victor Malouet on the profit of colonialism in Saint-Domingue (Haiti) for Europe

MALOUET, Pierre-Victor. Lettre à M.S.D., membre du parlement, sur l'intérêt de l'Europe, au salut des colonies de l'Amérique.
London, Thomas Baylis, Joseph de Boffe, A. Dulau & co., 1797. 8vo. Marbled paper wrappers. [4], 36 pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Caribbean Islands Economic History & Trade Middle America

Captivating manuscript in Dutch, detailing a journey to the Arctic regions

[MANUSCRIPT - DUTCH - ARCTIC REGION]. [Anonymous eyewitness travel report of a journey to the Arctic region in search of good waters for whaling].
[ca. 1790]. 4to. Manuscript written in Dutch in black ink in one clear, although not very sophisticated, hand on paper (sheets varying in origin and size ca. 20-21 x 14-16 cm). Modern artificial brown leather, marbled pastedowns, with the late-18th-century decorated paper wrappers bound in. [17] ll. Full description

€ 9,500

Arctic & Antarctic Birds - Ornithology Canada & Greenland Faunas & General Zoology Fishery & Whaling Fishes Floras & General Botany Scandinavia

Manuscript description of the captivity of the Jesuit Fathers and their journey from Brazil to Genoa in 1760

[MANUSCRIPT - JESUITS - BRAZIL - PORTUGAL]. Relazione della cattura, e del viaggio del Brasile a Lisbona, e da Lisbona a Genova de PP. Gesuiti da Provincia del Brasile.
[En route from Brazil to Lisbon, ca. 1760]. 4to. Manuscript in Italian written in a neat cursive in brown/black ink on laid paper. [3], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,950

Brazil Jesuits Manuscripts & Documents Portugal Religion (18th Century) Travel & Voyages South America

Previously unknown Portuguese description of the Paraguay River,
at the time of the dispute over Portuguese and Spanish frontier in the region

[MANUSCRIPT - PARAGUAY RIVER]. Discripças do Rio Paraguay en 1794. [Description of the river Paraguay in 1794].
[Paraguay and/or Brazil], [ca. 1794]. 34 x 22 cm. Written in brown ink in a very legible late 18th-century cursive. Stitched through 2 single holes, only one remains intact. [1], [1 blank], [12], [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 7,500

Brazil Geography Latin America Manuscripts & Documents South America

A notable narrative with detailed information on Northwest America, in splendid bindings

MARCHAND, Étienne and Charles Pierre Claret de FLEURIEU. Voyage autour du monde, pendant les anneés 1790, 1791 et 1792, par Étienne Marchand, précédé d'une introduction historique; auquel on a joint des recerches sur les terres Australes de Drake, et un examen critique du voyage de Roggeween.
Paris, De l'imprimerie de la République, [1798-1800]. 6 volumes: 5 text volumes and 1 atlas. Large 8vo (23 x 15 cm) and 4to atlas. With 3 folding tables with vocabulary in 3rd volume and 15 engraved maps and 1 engraved plate in atlas volume. Contemporary light brown calf, gold-tooled spine gilt with star and flower pattern and 2 red morocco title labels, gold-tooled ornamental borders on the boards, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, gilt edges (COURTEVAL). [4], VIII, CCI, [3], 294, [2]; VII, [1], 529, [1]; [2], VIII, 474, [2]; VIII, 494, [2]; XII, 559, [5]; [2], VIII, 158, [2] pp. Full description

€ 27,500

Alaska Anthropology & Ethnography Bindings Canada & Greenland Charts & Maps Hawaii Navigation North America Pacific Islands Travel & Voyages North America Travel & Voyages Pacific

The first printed biography of a pirate: Claes Compaen and the ambiguities of Dutch freebooting

[MARITIME HISTORY - PIRACY - CLAES COMPAEN]. 't Begin, midden en eynde der zee-rooveryen, van den alder-fameusten zee-roover, Claes G. Compaen, van Oostzanen in Kennemerlandt. vervattende sijn wonderlijcke, vreemde landts schadelijcke drijf-tochten. waer in vertoont wordt hoe hy met weynigh schepen de zee onveyligh ghemaeckt, een ongelooflijcken buyt, en groot getal van schepen, van alle landen gerooft, en af geloopen heeft.
Amsterdam, Michiel de Groot, 1675. 4to (19.1 x 14.5 cm). With a large woodcut illustration of a Dutch merchant ship on the title page, 3 woodcut illustrations in the text (including a repeat of the woodcut on the title page), and a large decorated woodcut initial. Contemporary multicolour brocade paper wrapper, covered with protective clear plastic. [6], 42 pp. Full description