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Complete collection of Japanese erotic woodblock prints in colour, by a famous artist

UTAGAWA KUNIMARO. Nyogo ga shima engi no irifune. [A treasure ship embarking at the Isle of Women].
[Japan], 1848-1854. 3 volumes. 22.2 x 15 cm. Volume 1: with a full-page woodcut illustration of 3 cranes (on the title-page?) on the inside of the front wrapper, 8 double-page woodcut illustrations showing erotic scenes, and a full-page woodcut illustration of 3 turtles. Volume 2: with a full-page illustration (on the title-page?) of pine needles and bamboo, 5 double-page woodcut illustrations showing erotic scenes, and a full-page woodcut illustration of plum blossoms. Volume 3: with a full-page illustration (of two pans on the title-page?), 4 double-page woodcut illustrations showing erotic scenes, and a full-page illustration of a table with a plant next to a draught screen. All illustrations are beautifully hand-coloured and set within a printed black frame. Original decorated paper wrappers (showing radiating suns in dark blue and blue and orange) in the traditional Japanese fukurotoji manner (double leaves with the fold at the fore-edge, each double leaf printed from a single woodblock on the 2 outside pages with the title and leaf numbers on the fold, stabbed and oversewn with yellow thread through 4 holes without a spine), the front and back wrappers folded in at all 4 edges, the first and last printed leaves pasted down to the wrappers, publishers manuscript title-label on the front wrapper. 3, 16; 16; 16 pp. Full description
€ 6,850
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First edition of Vadianus’ important description of the world, including the very rare map

VADIANUS, Joachim (Joachim von WATT). Epitome trium terrae partium, Asiae, Africae et Europae compendiariam locorum descriptionem continens ...
Zürich, Christoph Froschauer, 1534. Folio. With woodcut printer's device on title-page, numerous decorated woodcut initials and a double page woodcut world map "Typus cosmographus universalis" after Sebastian Münster. Modern calf. [44], 273, [1] pp. Full description
€ 38,500
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The most comprehensive and authoritative source on the Dutch colonial empire in the East

VALENTIJN, François. Oud en nieuw Oost-Indiën, vervattende een naaukeurige en uitvoerige verhandelinge van Nederlands mogentheyt in die gewesten ...
Dordrecht and Amsterdam, J. van Braam and G. Onder de Linden, 1724-1726. 5 parts in 8 volumes. Folio. With a richly engraved allegorical frontispiece, a full-page engraved portrait of the author, an engraved dedication, 105 engraved maps, plans and views (full-page and folding), 163 full-page engraved portraits and plates, and 9 folding tables. Contemporary gold-tooled, marbled brown calf, bound by the so-called Van Damme Bindery in Amsterdam, with a brown morocco title label on the ribbed spine, lettered in gold, a lozenge-shaped central ornament on the front and back board, surrounded by two decorative frames, gold-tooled board edges, marbled edges. Each volume ca. 400 pp. Full description
€ 90,000
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Della Valle's travels in Persia and the Near East, "one of the finest works of travel literature" (Howgego)

VALLE, Pietro della. De volkome beschryving der voortreffelijke reizen van de deurluchtige reisiger Pietro della Valle, edelman van Romen, in veel voorname gewesten des werrelts, sedert het jaer 1615, tot in 't jaar 1626 gedaan ...
Amsterdam, Abraham Wolfgang, 1666 (each volume title: Abraham Wolfgang, widow of Jan Hendriks Boom, Jan Rieuwertsz., 1664-1665). 6 volumes bound as 1. 4to. With 25 engraved plates. 19th-century vellum. Full description
€ 12,500
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Della Valle's travels in the Near East, Persia and Arabia: "one of the finest works of travel literature" (Howgego)

VALLE, Pietro della. Reiss-Beschreibung in unterschiedliche Theile der Welt, nemlich in Türckey, Egypten, Palestina, Persien, Ost-Indien, und andere weit entlegene Landschaften ...
Geneva, Johann Hermann Widerholds, 1674. 4 volumes bound as 1. Folio. With 31 engraved plates (1 folding), including frontispiece and portraits of the author and his wife, by Jean Jacques Thourneyser. Contemporary vellum. [20], 218, [12], [2 blank]; [4], 236, [12]; [4], 244, [13], [1 blank]; [6], 231, [17] pp. Full description
€ 15,000
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"This work ranks with the voyages of Cook and La Pérouse among the most important of the 18th and 19th centuries"

VANCOUVER, George. Reisen nach dem nördlichem[!] Theile der Südsee während der Jahre 1790 bis 1795. Aus dem Englischen übersetzt und mit Anmerkungen begleitet von Joh. Friedr. Wilh. Herbst.
Berlin, (colophon: printed by Johann Wilhelm Schmidt) for the Vossische Buchhandlung, 1799-1800. 2 volumes. 8vo. With a large folding engraved map (52 x 42 cm) by Ferdinand Sprögel (Berlin, 1800) of the northwest coast of America, and 2 folding aquatints. Contemporary half calf. [2], 386; VIII, 406 pp. Full description
€ 2,950
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First English edition of Varthema’s travels in the Middle East and beyond

[VARTHEMA, Ludovico di, Pietro Martire d’ANGHIERA and others]. The history of travayle in the West and East Indies, ...
London, Richard Jugge, 1577. Narrow 4to (19 x 13.5 cm). With a woodcut celestial map of the South Polar sky in the text. With 14 leaves in a 19th-century facsimile. Gold- and blind-tooled maroon morocco (ca. 1860?), in allusive style. In a modern clam-shell box. [10], 466, [6] ll. Full description
€ 120,000
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Very early European eyewitness description of India, confirming Marco Polo’s statements

VARTHEMA, Ludivico di. The Navigation and v[o]yages of Lewes Vertomannus, Gentelman of the citie of Rome, to the regions of Arabia, Egypte, Persia, Syria, Ethiopia, and East India, both within and without the ryver of Ganges, etc. In the yeere of our Lorde 1503. Conteynyng many notable and straunge thinges, both hystoricall and naturall. Translated out of Latine into Engylshe, by Richarde Eden.
London, Richard Jugge, 1577. 4to. With historiated woodcut initials. Splendid modern full navy blue morocco, bands on spine with title showing faded gilt, covers double-ruled gilt. [10], 466, [6] ll. Full description
€ 265,000
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An English edition of the first account of a European travelling through the Middle East,
visiting Mecca and Medina, to Persia, India, and the East Indies

VARTHEMA, Ludovico di. [transl. John Winter JONES, ed. Norman Mosley PENZER] The itinerary of Ludovico di Varthema of Bologna from 1502 to 1508 as translated from the original Italian edition of 1510, by John Winter Jones, F.S.A. in 1863 for the Hakluyt Society with a discourse on Varthema and his travels in Southern Asia by Sir Richard Carnac Temple [...].
London, The Argonaut Press, 1928. 4to. With 5 maps, the facsimile text of the title-page and colophon of the original 1510 book of Di Varthema, 1 plate, and a small blue illustration (similar to the blind-tooled image on the front board) on the title-page. Half white and half blue cloth with gold lettering on spine. LXXXV, [1 blank], 121, [3] pp. Full description
€ 500
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