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Asia / Central & West Asia

The first European to enter the Gulf: the final edition of Albuquerque's works

ALBUQUERQUE, Alfonso de. Commentarios do grande Afonso Dalboquerque capitao geral que foi das Indias orientaes em tempo do muito poderoso rey D. Manuel o primeiro deste nome.
Lisbon, Regia officina typografica, 1774. 4 volumes. Small 8vo. With a woodcut of Albuquerques coat of arms on all four title-pages, engraved portrait, an engraved illustration above the dedication, large engraved folding map and woodcut illustration in text. The map reaches from Egypt and Madagascar in the west to the Philippines and New Guinea in the east, including the Arabian Peninsula, the south of China, the east coast of Africa and most of the East Indies. Contemporary Portuguese mottled sheepskin with gold-tooled spines with red title labels, blue sprinkled edges, marbled endpapers. [6], XXX, [14], 343, [1]; [12], 285, [1], [2 blank]; [12], 289, [1], [2 blank]; [12], 256 pp. Full description
€ 7,500
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Dala'il al-khayrat written in China

AL-JAZULI, Muhammad ibn Sulaiman. Dalâ'il al-khayrat. [= "Waymarks of benefits"].
[Eastern Turkestan, now Xinjiang, China, early 17th century CE]. 4to (19 x 14 cm). Manuscript written in black ink on paper in Arabic script, with a red single- or double-line frame around each page, rubricated throughout, and two illustrations on pages 47 and 48) showing the "Ka'ba of Allah" (!) and the burial sites of the first three Rashidun Caliphs. The Arabic script is in the sini calligraphic style used in China, an archaic form mixing features of naskh and muhaqqaq. Contemporary(?) black, red and gold painted and lacquered leather over paper and cloth. The painted sides show floral designs in black and gold on a red background, in a black border with red wave designs. With remnants of leather on the brown cloth spine. [1], 337 pp. Full description
€ 38,000
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A defence of Leachman's assassin

'ALWACHI ('Abd al-Hamid). Al-Shaykh Dari qatil al-Kulunl Lichman fi Khan al-Nuqtah. [English title:] Sheik Dhari, assassin of Lieut-Col. G.E. Leachman at Khan el-Nuqta.
Baghdad, Maktab al-Alwaji wa-alHajjiyah, 1968. 8vo. With the English title on the back wrapper and the recto of the final leaf, main text set in Arabic type throughout. With 16 black and white photographic illustrations (on 5 leaves). Original lime green printed wrappers. 158, [2] pp. Full description
€ 1,500
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French mission to Mount Carmel, with a portrait of the Emir

ARVIEUX, Laurent d'; Gerard KUIPERS (transl.). Reis naar de legerplaats van den grooten Emir, en beschrijving, van de zeeden en gewoonten, der woestyn-bewoonende Arabieren ... Uit het Fransch vertaald en met aanteekeningen vermeerderd door G. Kuipers ...
Utrecht, Henricus van Otterloo, 1780. 8vo. With engraved title-page with a vignette by De Vries (a female figure reading from "H[eilige] Schriftuur" (Holy Scripture) with 4 putti and in the background a desert scene with tents, camels and dozens of mostly dark-skinned people, apparently representing nomads), 3 full-page engraved plates by Izaak de Wit Jansz., an engraved half-page illustration (unsigned), headpieces built up from rococo typographic ornaments and woodcut tailpieces. Contemporary half tree calf, gold-tooled spine with red morocco label, shell-marbled sides. [6], XL, 384, [16] pp. Full description
€ 2,500
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A French view on the Arabs in a Dutch translation

ARVIEUX, Laurent d'. Reis naar de legerplaats van den Grooten Emir, en beschrijving van de zeeden en gewoonten der woestijn-bewoonende Arabieren ... Tweede druk.
Dordrecht, A. Blussé & Zoon, 1802. 8vo. With 3 full-page engraved plates and 1 engraved illustration in text. Contemporary gold-tooled half calf, shell-marbled sides. [4], XL, 384, [16] pp. Full description
€ 1,350
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A Franciscan discovering the Holy Land. From the library of King Louis-Philippe

[BEAUGRAND, Felix]. Relation fidele du voyage de la Terre Sainte dans laquelle se voit tout ce qu' il y a de remarquable, tant par mer que par terre, depuis le départ de Marseille jusqu' au retour de ce saint voyage.
Paris, Gabriel Valleyre, 1760. 8vo. With a small woodcut vignette on title, several woodcut head- and tailpieces. Contemporary mottled calf, gold-tooled spine, with yellow morocco title label, gold-tooled binding edges, red edges. [4], 248, [10] pp. Full description
€ 5,000
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Abridged Tibetan Alphabetum from the Propaganda Fide

[BELIGATTI, Giovanni (Cassiono Da MACERATA)]. Alphabetum Tangutanum sive Tibetanum.
Rome, Propaganda Fide, 1773. 8vo. With a folding table, printer's device on title-page and an elaborate woodcut tailpiece after the preliminaries. Modern vellum, green title label. XVI, 138, [2] pp. Full description
€ 1,750
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Belon's account of his extensive travels in the Levant, with 44 woodcut illustrations

BELON, Pierre. Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables, trouvées en Grece, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie et autres pays estranges.
Paris, Guillaume Cavellat (colophon: printed by Benoist Prévost for Gilles Corozet, Guillaume Cavellat), 1555. 3 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With title in woodcut border with Cavellet's device and initials at the foot, each part-title with Cavellet's woodcut device, 1 folding woodcut map (31.5 x 35 cm) showing Mount Sinai, 44 woodcuts in the text (including a portrait of the author by Geoffroy Tory), and numerous fine decorated initials. Overlapping vellum (ca. 1600?). [12], 212, [1] ll. Full description
€ 12,500
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First Latin edition, printed by Plantin, of Belon's illutrated oriental travel account, with 43 woodcuts

BELON, Pierre. Plurimarum singularium & memorabilium rerum in Graecia, Asia, Aegypto, Judaea, Arabia, aliisq. exteris provinciis ab ipso conspectarum observationes, tribus libris expressae.
(2) BELON, Pierre. De neglecta stirpium cultura, atque earum cognitione libellus: edocens qua ratione silvestres arbores cicurari & mitescere queant. Antwerp, Christoffel Plantin, 1589. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. With Plantins woodcut compasses device on each title-page, 43 woodcuts in text (6 full-page), woodcut decorated initials. With an unrecorded 2-page corrigenda leaf. Contemporary overlapping limp vellum. [16], 495, [1 blank]; "78" [= 87], [1 blank], [2] pp. Full description
€ 4,750
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1860s views of the Holy City of Jerusalem

BERGHEIM, Peter. Views of Jerusalem and Environs.
Jerusalem, [late 1860s]. Box: 43.8 x 34.5 x 7.3 cm. A suite of 48 albumen photographs (ca. 22 x 29 cm) mounted on modern cardstock (40.5 x 31.3 cm), mostly with original printed captions pasted beneath the image, with tissue guards. Stored in an archivel chemise in a modern gold-tooled red cloth box, incorporating the original gold-lettered red cloth album cover (original back cover gold-tooled vignette showing the Dome of the Rock recessed on the inside of the lid of the box). [48] ll. Full description
€ 35,000
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With the 6 large Daniel Stoopendaal maps and the series of 212 prints by Picard and others

[BIBLE - DUTCH - KEUR]. Biblia, dat is De gantsche H. Schrifture vervattende alle de canonijcke boecken des Ouden en des Nieuwen Testaments.
Dordrecht, Jacob and Pieter Keur; Amsterdam, Pieter Rotterdam and Pieter Rotterdam the younger (colophon: printed by Jacob and Pieter Keur, Dordrecht), 1714 (New Testament without Pieter Rotterdam the younger, 1713). 3 parts in 2 volumes. Large folio (42.5×27.5 cm). With engraved general title-page, series of 6 engraved double-page folding maps by Daniël Stoopendaal (his larger set), a complete set of 184 full-page and 28 double-page engraved illustration plates by various artists, including A. de Blois, J. van Vianen and J. Mulder, after G. Hoet, B. Picart, A. Houbraken and others. Gold-tooled sprinkled calf (1738?). [20], 302; [2], 134, [12], 164, [2], 66 ll. Full description
€ 7,500
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Important travelogue on Persia, with 15 plates and 2 maps

BODE, Clement Augustus de. Travels in Luristan and Arabistan.
Including: BODE, Clement Augustus de. Observations on the march of Timur ... and on the probable course pursued by Alexander the Great, on his expedition from Susa to Persepolis.
London, J. Madden and Co., 1845. 2 volumes. 8vo. With a wood-engraved illustration on the title-page to each volume, 15 plates, 2 folding engraved maps and 3 wood-engraved illustrations in text. The 15 plates (4 tinted lithographs and 11 wood engravings) consists of 2 frontispieces, a folding plate, a double-page plate and 11 single-page plates. Modern half calf, marbled (Period Binders, Bath, England). XX, 404; XII, 398, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 8,500
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Deluxe Palestine souvenir album

[BONFILS, Félix]. Jerusalem.
[Palestine, 1880s]. Oblong album (44.5 x 31.5 cm) With 71 large photographic albumen prints, mostly ca. 22 x 28 cm, signed and captioned in the negative (in French and English), mounted on both sides of the album's leaves. Includes a three-part folding panorama of Jerusalem from Mount Olivet, measuring 82 x 21 cm. Original auburn morocco with gold-stamped front board, gilt edges. Full description
€ 18,000
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Five rare publications on the 17th-century French mission in southeast Asia

BOURGES, Jacques de. Relation du voyage de Monseigneur l'evesque de Beryte, vicaire apostolique du royaume de la Cochinchine, par la Turquie, la Perse, les Indes, &c. jusqu'au royaume de Siam, & autres lieux.
Paris, Charles Angot, 1683. 8vo.
With:
(2) PALLU, François. Relation abregée des missions et des voyages des evesques François envoyez aux royaumes de la Chine, Cochinchine, Tonquin, & Siam.
Paris, Charles Angot, 1682.
(3) [FERMANEL DE FAVERY, Luc (editor)]. Relation des missions des evesques François aux royaumes de Siam, de la Cochinchine, de Camboye, & du Tonquin, &c. Divisée en quatre parties.
Paris, Charles Angot, 1684.
(4) Relation des missions et des voyages des evesques vicaires apostoliques, et de leurs ecclesiastiques és années 1672, 1673, 1674 & 1675.
Paris, Charles Angot, 1682.
(5) Relation des missions et des voyages des evesques vicaires apostoliques, et de leurs ecclesiastiques és années 1676 & 1677.
Paris, Charles Angot, 1682. 5 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [8], 167, [1]; [6], 51, [1 blank]; [16], 248; [16], 389, [1 blank]; [16], 170, [1] pp. Full description
€ 12,500
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Magnificent work containing more than 200 highly detailed illustrations of the Levant, Middle East and Asia

BRUYN, Cornelis de. Reizen van Cornelis de Bruyn, door de vermaardste deelen van Klein Asia, de eylanden Scio, Rhodus, Cyprus, Metelino, Stanchio, &c. Mitsgaders de voornaamste steden van Aegypten, Syrien en Palestina.
Delft, Hendrik van Krooneveld, 1698. Large folio (ca. 38.5 x 25 cm). With an engraved frontispiece by J. Mulder, a full-page engraved portrait of the author by G. Valck, and ca. 215 numbered illustrations on 101 full-page and double-page plates (including 17 very large double-page folding plates, 6 illustrations lettered 1, 22A, 22B, 22C, A (again) and B, and 24 smaller illustrations in the text - of which 4 not part of the numbered sequence). Some of the plates are captioned, there does not seem to have been a systematic approach in adding the captions - all plates are as issued and as they appear in other copies. These plates mainly depict views and cityscapes. Contemporary mottled calf. [22], 397, [9] pp. Full description
€ 12,500
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First edition of a sumptuous account of a voyage to Russia, Persia and the East Indies,
with large folding views of Moscow and Isfahan (194x42 cm)

BRUYN (LE BRUN), Cornelis de. Reizen over Moskovie, door Persie en Indie: verrykt met driehondert konstplaten, vertoonende de beroemste lantschappen en steden, ook de byzondere dragten, beesten, gewassen en platen, die daer gevonden worden ...
Amsterdam, Willem and David Goeree for the author, 1711. Folio (40x25.5 cm). With engraved frontispiece by Bernard Picart, engraved author's portrait, 2 folding engraved maps, 109 engraved plates (13 folding, 55 double-page, 41 full-page) and 36 engraved illustrations in text. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum. [8], 472, [12] pp. Full description
€ 9,000
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Biblical travels in the form of a travel book

BÜNTING, Heinrich and Matthias HASAERT. Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae. Dat is: het reysboek der Heyligher Schrift.
Including:     BÜNTING, Heinrich. Een besonder tractaet ende onderwijsinghe van de munte ende ghewichtre der Heyligher Schrifturen... [BÜNTING, Heinrich]. Itinerarium Novi Testamenti. Dat is: een reysboeck, over het Nieuwe Testament. Het tweede deel...BÜNTING, Heinrich. Harmonia evangelistarum, dat is: eene seer schoone ende eendrachtige over-een-stemminge der heyliger vier evangelisten...Amsterdam, Hendrik Laurentsz., 1635. 4 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With 5 woodcut and 2 engraved folding maps. Contemporary vellum, modern endpapers. [16], 355, [9]; [2], 36; [4], 163, [3]; 24 pp. Full description
€ 1,950
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First edition of a rare work about the Orient and the crusades

CENTENO, Amaro. Historia de cosas del oriente primera y segunda parte...
Cordoba, Diego Galván, 1595. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With a woodcut coat of arms on the title-page and the divisional title-page for part 2, an elaborate Jesuit woodcut IHS vignette on the verso of the last leaf above the colophon and woodcut initials throughout, with a few typographical or woodcut tail-pieces, al text is set within a simple woodcut frame. Later tree marbled sheepskin. [8], 138, [4] ll. Full description
€ 28,000
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Expedition to observe the transit of Venus in Siberia

CHAPPE D'AUTEROCHE, Jean Baptiste. A journey into Siberia ... containing an account of the manners and customs of the Russians, the present state of their empire; with the natural history, and geographical descriptions of their country ...
London, T. Jeffreys, 1770. 4to. With folding map (26.5 x 51.5 cm), partly hand-coloured, and 9 etched plates (1 folding, 8 full-page). Modern sprinkled calf. XIII, [7], 395, [1] pp. Full description
€ 2,000
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French merchant travels through Persia and becomes personal jeweller to the Shah

CHARDIN, Jean. Voyages de mr. le chevalier Chardin, en Perse, et autres lieux de l'Orient.
Amsterdam, J. L. de Lorme, 1711. 10 volumes. 12mo. With an engraved frontispiece portrait of Johannes Chardin, 1 engraved map, 79 engraved folding plates and 6 letterpress folding tables. Contemporary half morocco, gold-tooled spine. [24], 254; 334; 285, [1 blank]; 280; 312; 328; 448; 255, [1 blank]; 308; 220, [82] pp. Full description
€ 4,000
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Very rare and little known collection of Italian Renaissance merchant voyages to India

CIGNANO, Ludovico. Quieta solitudine di varii ragionamenti, discorsi, et concetti, ove si narra quattro navigationi ...
Bologna, Alessandro Benacci, 1587. Small 4to. With the woodcut coat of arms of the dedicatee Giovanni Luigi Scappi, elaborately helmed, crested and mantled, on the title-page, a woodcut tailpiece (plus 1 repeat), woodcut decorated initials (at least 4 series), decorations built up from cast typographic ornaments.
Goatskin morocco (ca. 1870/80?), richly gold-tooled spine and turn-ins, signed in foot of front turn-in by the Paris bookbinders "DARLAUD FRÈRES", gold fillets on sides and board edges, combed curl-marbled endpapers, edges gilt over marbling, headbands worked in white and beige, and a yellow, red and green ribbon marker. 166 pp. Full description
€ 45,000
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Cochrane's travels on foot through Siberia

COCHRANE, John Dundas and Robert LYALL. Reize te voet door het Russische Rijk en Siberië ... voorafgegaan door eene beschouwing van het karakter en de zeden der Russen, door R. Lyall, en eene geschiedkundige inleiding van den vertaler.
Delft, the widow of Johannes Allart, 1826. 2 volumes. 8vo. With lithographed frontispiece showing a Russian peasant family, and a folding table. Publisher's boards, uncut. VIII, 448; XII [= X], 376 pp. Full description
€ 850
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First Italian edition of first overland journey from Spain to the East Indies, by way of Iran

CUBERO SEBASTIAN, Pedro. Peregrinazione del mondo.
Naples, Giuseppe Criscolo, 1683. 4to (15.5 x 20 cm). With an additional engraved title and 2 portraits. Contemporary paper-covered boards with handwritten lettering on the spine. [8], 339, [5] pp. Full description
€ 18,000
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Journey around the world with a long stay in India

CUBERO SEBASTIAN, Pedro. Breve relacion, de la peregrinacion que ha hecho de la mayor parte del mundo.
Madrid, Juan Garcia Infançon, 1680. Small 4to (20 x 14.5 cm). With the title-page in a border built up from cast fleurons, woodcut coat of arms of the dedicatee Charles II of Spain, and some woodcut initials and tailpieces.Gold-tooled morocco, by the leading Barcelona binder Emilio Brugalla (1901-1987), with the arms of the Spanish bibliophile Isidoro Fernandez (1878-1963) stamped in gold on front and back, gilt edges. [20], 360 pp. Full description
€ 18,000
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Major source of information on the Muslim world in the 17th century

DAPPER, Olfert. Naukeurige beschryving van Asie: behelsende de gewesten van Mesopotamie, Babylonie, Assyrie, Anatolie, of Klein Asie: beneffens eene volkome beschrijving van gantsch gelukkigh, woest, en petreesch of steenigh Arabie. Vertoont in een bondigh ontwerp van 's lands benamingen, bepalingen, . . . inzonderheit die van d'oude Arabieren, Mahomet en Mahometanen.
Amsterdam, Jacob van Meurs, 1680. Folio. With engraved frontispiece, 3 double-page maps (of Basra and surroundings, Anatolia and the Arabian Peninsula), 12 double-page or folding views (partly drawn by Charles Vasteau). Near contemporary blind-stamped vellum. [8], 357, [3], 324, [4] pp. Full description
€ 9,500
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Major source of information on the Islamic world in the 17th century

DAPPER, Olfert. Naukeurige beschryving van Asie: behelsende de gewesten van Mesopotamie, Babylonie, Assyrie, Anatolie, of Klein Asie: beneffens eene volkome beschrijving van gantsch gelukkigh, woest, en petreesch of steenigh Arabie ...
Amsterdam, Jacob Meurs, 1680. 2 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With engraved frontispiece, 16 engraved views and maps (2 folding, 14 double-page), and 22 engraved illustrations in the text. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum. [8], 357, [3], 324, [4] pp. Full description
€ 8,500
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Hongkong edition of a rare work by a famous French missionary in Tibet

DESGODINS, Auguste. Essai de grammaire Thibétaine pour le langage parlé, avec alphabet et prononciation.
Hongkong, Imprimerie de Nazareth, 1899. 12mo. With the printing offices device (an Asian style temple with "Nazareth", "venite seorsum" and an "ME" monogram with cross) on the title-page and several tailpieces. Original publishers half tan morocco, sewn on 3 recessed cords but with 4 false raised band on the spine, with "GRAMMAIRE|THIBÉTAINE" in gold in the 2nd compartment and the printer-publishers "ME" monogram with cross at the foot of the fifth, "Gustav"-marbled sides (tan on yellow), decorated endpapers (printed in imitation of Spanish marbled paper), sprinkled edges. [9], 91, [1] pp. Full description
€ 2,950
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Life and customs in the Ottoman Empire, described by a Christian former slave

DJURDJEVIC, Bartol (Bartholomeus GEORGIEVITZ) Voiage de la saincte cite de Hierusalem. Jointe la description des citez, villes, ports, lieux, & autres passages. Ensemble les ceremonies des Turcs ...
Liège, printed by Leonard Streel for Lambert de la Coste, 1600. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. 18th-century calf, gold-tooled spine. [32], [32] lvs. Full description
€ 17,500
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Travels in Siberia and China

DOBELL, Peter. Travels in Kamtchatka and Siberia; with a narrative of a residence in China.
London, Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley (back of title-page: J.B. Nichols and son), 1830. 2 volumes. 12mo. With two hand-coloured aquatint frontispieces by J. Clarck. Contemporary boards. IX, [1 blank], 351, [1]; X, 341, [1 blank], [2] pp. Full description
€ 2,250
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First European biography of Timur derived from an Arabic source

DU BEC-CRESPIN, Jean. The historie of the great emperour Tamerlan wherein are expressed, encounters, skirmishes, battels, sieges, assaults, skalings, taking of cities and strong places, defended, and assaulted, with diverse stratagems of warre, the which this great and renowned warriour hath conducted and accomplished, during his raigne of fortie or fiftie yeares: with other instructions for the warre, which should not be unknowen of them that would attaine unto the knowledge of armes. Drawen from the auncient monuments of the Arabians, by messire Jean du Bec, abbot of Mortimer. Newly translated out of French into English, for their benefite which are ignorant in that language. by H.M.
London, R. Field for Willam Ponsonby, 1597. 4to. With a woodcut device on the title-page, woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces.17th-century calf, 19th century gold-tooled spine. [4], 265, [1] pp. Full description
€ 35,000
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Secret correspondence between Tipu Sultan and the French, published by the British

[EAST INDIA COMPANY]. [TIPU SULTAN, Zaman Shah DURRANI, NAPOLEON BONAPARTE and others]. Official documents, relative to the negotiations carried on by Tippoo Sultaun, with the French Nation, and other foreign states, for purposes hostile to the British nation; to which is added, proceedings of a Jacobin club, formed at Seringapatam, by the French soldiers in the corps commanded by M. Dompart, with a translation ... Printed by order of the ... Governor General ...
Calcutta, Honorable Companys Press, 1799. Super Royal 4to (33.5 x 25 cm). Never bound, but side stitched through 3 holes. XX, [2], 195, [1] pp. Full description
€ 6,500
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Famous limited edition leaf book "Ege portfolio", containing 15 beautiful oriental manuscript leaves including texts in Arabic, Persian, and Ethiopic

EGE, Otto F (compiler & author of the annotations). [Drop-title:] Fifteen original oriental manuscript leaves of six centuries. [Binding title:] Fifteen original oriental manuscripts.
[Cleveland, Ohio?], [Cleveland Institute of Art or Western Reserve University?], [ca. 1952]. 15 manuscript leaves (in one case a fragment of a scroll) of various formats and sizes, some glazed (see the detailed list of contents for specific dimensions), 7 written on straight-forward laid paper (European and non-European), 6 more problematic (probably all non-European), 1 on straight-forward wove paper (no. 14, supposedly made in Russia) and one on vellum (no. 7), most rubricated and/or decorated in various colours, some decorated or highlighted in gold. Each manuscript leaf is mounted (hinged on one edge to allow access to both sides of the leaf) in a passe-partout (46.5 x 33 cm) and each has a letterpress slip (10 x 18 cm) with explanatory text tipped onto the foot of the passe-partout. The publication has no title-page but includes a letterpress folio leaf that serves as a table of contents and has the drop-title given above (the present copy contains two copies of that contents leaf). The display typeface used in the letterpress leaves (and on the portfolio) is the 1938 Libra by the Dutch designer Sjoerd de Roos, inspired by uncial manuscripts. Publishers original portfolio (48.5 x 34 x 4.5 cm) covered with black cloth with on-lays in black and red on the front and the authors name in white and title in red on the spine, with three pairs of black ties (one on the inside) and a label on the inside of the right black flap giving information about the limited edition: "Edition limited to forty numbered sets of which this is No 33". [1] leaf (plus a duplicate) plus 15 original manuscript leaves mounted in white passe-partouts. Full description
€ 18,000
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Afghanistan and its dependencies in Persia, Tartary and India, with 14 hand-coloured plates, in original wrappers

ELPHINSTONE, Mountstuart. Tableau du royaume de Caboul, et de ses dépendances, dans la Perse, la Tartarie et l'Inde, offrant les moeurs, usages et costumes de cet empire, ... traduit et abrégé de l'anglais, par M. Breton.
Paris, Nepveu, 1817. 3 volumes. 18mo. With 14 engraved plates depicting various costumes, lords on horseback, etc., all beautifully coloured by hand. Original publisher's printed wrappers, each volume with wood engraved illustrations on front, back and spine. Preserved in a modern gold-tooled green morocco box. XLIV, 189 [3]; [4], 222, [2]; [4], 223 [1] pp. Full description
€ 4,950
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The natural history, politics and medicine of India and Persia, with a section on Muscat

FRYER (FREYER), John. Negenjaarige reyse door Oostindien en Persien, ... Begonnen met den jaare 1672 en geeyndigt met den jaare 1681.
The Hague, Abraham de Hondt, Jacobus van Ellinkhuysen and Meyndert Uytwerf, 1700. 4to. With engraved frontispiece, engraved author's portrait, 3 folding engraved maps, 7 folding engraved views and other plates, and several woodcut illustrations in text. Contemporary vellum. [8], 566, [26] pp. Full description
€ 3,750
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Treating the plague in Ottoman Turkey, from the library of “le Régent”, Philippe d'Orléans

GAUDEREAU, Abbé Martin. Relation des differentes especes de peste que reconnoissent les orientaux, des précautions & des remedes qu'ils prennent pour en empêcher la communication & le progrès; et de ce que nous devons faire à leur exemple pour nous en préserver, & nous en guerir.
Paris, Jacques Quillau, 1721. 12mo. Contemporary gold-tooled red morocco, with the arms of Philippe d'Orléans (1674-1723) on both boards, richly gold-tooled spine, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, gilt edges. 134, [5], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 15,000
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The gastropods of Anatolia, with 17 plates

GERMAIN, Louis. Mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles d'Asie-Mineure.
Paris, Paul Lechevalier (colophon: Rouen, Lecerf), 1936. 8vo. With 17 plates with photographic reproductions and many illustrations in text. Modern brown half morocco, gold-tooled spine; with the original publisher's printed paper wrappers bound in. 492 pp. Full description
€ 375
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The deterioration and restoration of Russo-Japanese relations 1811-1813

GOLOVNIN, Vasilii Mikhailovich. Memoirs of a captivity in Japan, during the years 1811, 1812, and 1813; with observations on the country and the people ... second edition.
Including:
-RIKORD, Petr Ivanovich. Account of voyages to the coasts of Japan; and of negotiations with the Japanese, for the release of Captain Golownin and his companions.
-Account of the voyages of Messrs. Chwostoff & Dawidoff.
London, Henry Colburn & Co., 1824. 3 volumes. 8vo. With an additional facsimile map, copied from the French edition of 1818, inserted in volume 2. Modern red cloth. IV, 315, [1 blank]; [2], 356, [2]; VIII, LXXXIX, [1 blank], 302 pp. Full description
€ 1,500
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Important work on the natural history of Palastine

HASSELQUIST, Friedrich and Carl LINNAEUS. Reise nach Palästina in den Jahren von 1749 bis 1752. auf Befehl ihro Majestät der Königinn von Schweden herausgegeben vond Carl Linnäus aus em Schwedischen.
Rostock, Johann Christian Koppe, 1762 (colophon: Leipzig, Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf, 1761). 8vo. With woodcut tailpieces. Contemporary half vellum. [18], 606 pp. Full description
€ 1,800
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The Desert of Paran and the 42 stations of the Exodus, with a map

HERMANN, Amand. Desertum Pharan mystice explicatum, cum quadraginta duabus in eo mansionibus filiorum Isràél ad Palaestinam pergentium: . . .
Kalisz, printed by the college of the Society of Jesus, 1685. 4to. With an engraved frontispiece, showing a map of the Holy Land and the route of the Exodus with the 42 stations numbered. Contemporary overlapping vellum. [32], 505, [1 blank], [16] pp. Full description
€ 1,950
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Ancient Hebrew & other Middle Eastern, Greek, Roman and Arabic numbers, coins, weights and measures

HOST, Matthäus (Matthaeus HOSTUS). Historiae rei nummariae veteris scriptores aliquot insigniores ...
Including:
HOST, Matthäus. Tres libros de veteribus mensuris ...
HOST, Matthäus. Quaedam opuscula variae ...
[SARDI, Alessandro] (misattributed to John SELDEN). Liber de nummis ...
LABBE, Philippe. Bibliotheca nummaria ...
BUDÉ, Guillaume. De asse et partibus ejus libri quinque.
Leiden, Pieter van der Aa, 1695 (colophon at the end of Hosts works: Jena, Johann Zacharias Nisius, 1692). 15 works in 5 volumes, paginated as 3 and bound as 2. 4to. With 2 engraved portraits (vol. I) and 3 folding tables. Contemporary or near contemporary vellum. [36], 372, [8]; [26], “637” [= 535], [7], [2 blank], [lacking 1-2], 3-716, [86] pp. Full description
€ 4,500
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With a folding map situating the Garden of Eden near Al Basrah, Iraq

HUET, Pierre Daniel. Trattato della situazione del Paradiso terrestre ... Tradotta dalla lingua Francese.
Venice, Giambatista Albrizzi, 1737. Small 8vo (15.5 x 10 cm). With an engraved frontispiece incorporating a map, the engraved arms of the dedicatee Marc'Antonio Morosini above the dedication, and a folding engraved map (22.5 x 19 cm). Contemporary sprinkled tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. [48], 234, [2 blank] pp. Full description
€ 1,500
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British military terrain map of the Persian Gulf, published in Calcutta

HUNTER, Frederic Fraser (editor); Sir Sidney Gerald BURRARD (director). Southern Asia series - Southern Persia sheet - Persia, Arabia and Turkey in Asia
[Dehradun, Survey of India Office], sold at the Map Record and Issue Office, Calcutta, 1912. 61.5 x 88 cm. Large photozincographed (heliozincographed) folding map on a scale of 1:2,000,000 in black, blue and red, with relief shown by contours, hachures and gradient tints. Folded. Full description
€ 15,000
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Revised and enlarged edition of a 1933 master's thesis on Arabian-Far Eastern relations to ca. 1500

HUZAYYIN, S.A. Arabia and the Far East. Their commercial and cultural relations in Graeco-Roman and Irano-Arabian times.
Cairo, printed by l'institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1942. 27.5 x 18 cm. With 12 relief-printed folding maps with trade routes, some regions, etc. printed in several colours and with the coat of arms of King Fouad I of Egypt on the title page. Original brown publisher's printed paper wrappers with the title of the work and the coat of arms of King Fouad I of Egypt on the front wrapper and the logo of "la Société Royale de Géographie d'Égypte" on the back wrapper. [2 blank], XXIX, [1 blank], 319, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 1,800
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First substantial English translation of Ibn Batuta's travels through the Islamic world and beyond

IBN BATUTA and Samuel LEE (editor). The travels of Ibn Batuta; translated from the abridged Arabic manuscript copies, preserved in the public library of Cambridge. With notes, illustrative of the history, geography, botany, antiquities, &c. occurring throughout the work.
London, printed for the Oriental Translation Committee (colophon: by J.L. Cox). Large 4to (32 x 26). With various passages including the original Arabic text. Later half calf. "XVIII" [=XX], [2], 243, [1] pp. Full description
€ 17,500
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"Confidential"

[INDIA – ARMY, GENERAL STAFF BRANCH]. Operations in Waziristan 1919-1920. Confidential. Compiled by the General Staff, Army Headquarters, India, 1921.
Calcutta, Superintendent of Government Printing, 1921. 8vo. With frontispiece, 31 plates, 7 maps (3 in pocket on inside of back board), and 8 panoramas, mostly folding.Contemporary half calf, green cloth sides, gold-stamped red spine labels. X, 187, [1] pp. Full description
€ 2,800
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First-hand account of the British military in India's Northwest

[PHOTOGRAPHY - INDIA]. [W. RAHN (photographer).] [Album with photographs of the Tirah Expedition].
Including:
- Key [manuscript identifying sitters in 1 photograph in the album]. 2 loose leaves.
- [Manuscript list of captions to 10 photographs in the album]. 1 leaf.Kirkee (Pune, India), Sappers and Miners' Press, [1898]. Folio album (40 x 33 cm). A photo album with 53 photographic prints on 12 paperboard leaves, hinged to stubs with 3 cords. Including 9 large albumen prints from 21 x 26.5 cm to 13.5 x 29 cm, 43 gelatin silver prints from 12 x 18 cm. to 9 x 10.5 cm., and a loosely inserted large albumen print 21 x 28.5 cm on a similar paperboard support. Contemporary cloth with closing straps. Manuscripts loosely inserted in the album.
(2) PARK, Superintendent. 1898. Catalogue of photographs by Sergeant A.J. Clarke R.E. taken during Tirah Expedition, 1897-1898.
[Kirkee (Pune, India), Sappers and Miners' Press, 1898]. Small folio (22 x 14.5 cm), [4] pp. With a lithographed title-page. Loosely inserted in the album. Full description
€ 8,750
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Historical narrative of a voyage to India and Persia written by a surgeon of the British Royal Navy

IVES, Edward. Reize naar Oost-Indië en Persië, en de daar omliggende landen. Ondernomen langs een' ongewoonen weg.
Amsterdam, De Compagnie, 1779. 2 volumes bound as 1. 4to. With 2 engraved title-pages, 2 folding engraved maps, one of India (44 x 51 cm), the other tracking Ives's journey from Basra to Latakia (ca. 42 x 56 cm), and 9 engraved plates (including 1 large folding). Early 20th-century boards. [16], 324; [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], 379, [1] pp. Full description
€ 2,950
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A teenage sailor’s adventures in Arabia, Mumbai and elsewhere

JAMES, Silas. A narrative of a voyage to Arabia, India; &c; ...; with remarks on the genius and disposition of the natives of Arabia Felix; ...
London, printed by William Glindon, sold by the author, [1797]. 8vo. With a frontispiece portrait of the author engraved by William Newman. Modern dark brown calf, gold-tooled spine. “VI” [= VIII], 7, [1 blank], [1], 10-232 pp. Full description
€ 8,500
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The beginning of the renewed contacts between France and Persia

JAUBERT, Pierre Amédée Emilien Probe. Voyage en Arménie et en Perse, fait dans les années 1805 et 1806 ... accompagné d'une carte des pays compris entre Constantinople at Téhéran ... suivi d'une notice sur le Ghilan et le Mazenderan ...
Paris, Pélicier et Nepveu, 1821. 8vo. With 10 lithographed plates showing portraits, costumes, and views, most of them designed by Orlowski and lithographed by Aubry, 1 large engraved folding map showing the region between Constantinople and Teheran engraved by Flahaut. Contemporary gold-tooled marbled calf. [2], XII, 506, [2] pp. Full description
€ 4,500
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Over 200 scientific articles on Western & Central Asia and India, bound in 107 volumes

[JOURNALS – WESTERN AND CENTRAL ASIA; INDIA], Olaf CAROE, Aurel STEIN, Richard TEMPLE, Francis YOUNGHUSBAND et al. [Large collection of journal articles about the scientific exploration of Western and Central Asia and India].Including:
- Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
- Geographical Journal.
- Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
- Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society.
- Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.
- Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society.
- National Geographic.
Various places, a.o. London and Calcutta, various publishers, 1837-1981. 107 volumes, many containing multiple articles. 8vo. Some illustrated with plates and maps. Half calf with marbled sides and gilt lettering on spine or cloth with marbled sides and label on spine. Full description
€ 35,000
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Linschoten's nautical chart of the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and surroundings, engraved in 1596

LANGREN, H. F. van. Deliniantur in hac tabula, orae maritimae Abexiae, freti Mecani: al Maris Rubri-Arabiae ...
Engraved map of Arabia, India and surroundings in 2 sheets (38.5 x 53.5 cm as assembled), engraved for J. Huygen van Linschoten, Itinerario, 1596). Matted. Full description
€ 9,500
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T. E. Lawrence's anonymous account of the Arab movement in the Great War

[LAWRENCE, Thomas Edward]. Harry PIRIE-GORDON (editor). A brief record of the advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under the command of General Sir Edmund H.H. Allenby. July 1917 to October 1918. Compiled from official sources and published by the Palestine News.
Cairo, Government Press and Survey of Egypt, 1919. Small folio (22.5 x 29.5 cm). With a frontispiece portrait of Allenby, mounted on cloth, and 56 coloured maps with explanatory texts on the facing pages. Contemporary half linen. [6], 113, [1] pp. Full description
€ 3,000
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Illustrated eye-witness accounts and tall tales: sixty years of a sailor's world travels

LE BLANC, Vincent. De vermaarde reizen van de heer Vincent Le Blanc van Marsilien, die hy sedert d'ouderdom van veertien jaren, tot aan die van zestig, in de vier delen des werrelts gedaan heeft ...
Amsterdam, Jan Hendricksz. Boom, Jan Rieuwertsz., 1654. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With engraved title-page and 7 engraved plates. 19th-century boards. [1], [1 blank], 152, 116 pp. Full description
€ 4,500
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Archaeological account and artefacts from the Turfan area, China, with numerous plates

LE COQ, Albert von. Die buddhistische Spätantike in Mittelasien. Ergebnisse der Kgl. Preussischen Turfan-Expeditionen.
Berlin, Dietrich Reimer, 1922-1933 [facsimile: Graz, Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1973-1975]. 6 text volumes and 1 atlas. 35,5 x 26 cm; atlas 54 x 36,5 cm. With a total of 185 plates in the text volumes, 22 plates in the atlas volume, mostly in black and white, some in colour, and numerous illustrations in text. Uniform decorated brown cloth. 29; 62; 53; 29; 32; 89; 80 pp. Full description
€ 2,500
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Journal of a 1674/75 overland voyage through India, Iran, Iraq and Syria to Amsterdam

LEEUWENSON, Joannes (Pieter Arend LEUPE, ed. & intro.). Eene overlandreis uit Indië naar Nederland, in 1674-1675.
[Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 1863]. 8vo. Offprint, retaining the original pagination and collation, of an article in Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6 (1863). 20th-century stiff paper wrappers, with a printed label on the front. pp. [89], 90-142. Full description
€ 1,250
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Detailed observations of life in the Ottoman Empire, Egypt and elsewhere in the Levant and Middle East ca. 1610

LITHGOW, William. Nineteen years travels through the most eminent places in the habitable world.
London, for John Wright & Thomas Passinger, 1682. 8vo. With a folding woodcut frontispiece and 6 folding woodcut plates and 1 woodcut in the text. 19th-century dark brown sheepskin, sewn on 3 recessed cords, brown spine label, Stormont on shell marbled endpapers. [8], 481, [7] pp. Full description
€ 3,500
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Famous work on the Middle East, illustrated with very early photogravures of the Holy Land

LUYNES, Honoré d'Albert de. Voyage d'exploration à la mer Morte, à Petra et sur la rive gauche du Jourdain. ... Oeuvre posthume publiée par ses petit-fils sous la direction de M. le Comte de Vogüé.
Paris, Arthus Bertrand (on back of half-title: printed by E. Martinet (vols. 1-2) and Arnous de Rivière (vol. 3)), [1874]. 3 volumes of text and 1 atlas of plates. Imperial 4to (35.2 x 26.5 cm). With 14 numbered lithographed plates in volume 3 (4 double-page chromolithographed maps, views and geological sections; 2 further geological plates and 8 plates showing archaeological specimens), 85 plates in the atlas volume (including 65 photogravures and double-page chromolithographed maps) and numerous wood-engravings in the text. Set in roman and italic types with occasional passages in Greek and especially Arabic. Text volumes in original publisher's letterpress-printed light blue wrappers, atlas in half cloth portfolio with the original publisher's letterpress-printed paper sides, matching the text volumes; the 4 volumes preserved in 2 modern black half calf clamshell boxes. [8], 388; [6], 226; [4], VI, 326; [4] pp. Full description
€ 35,000
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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
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14th-century tales of travels in Turkey, the Middle East, Near East, India and the East Indies,
illustrated with about 60 woodblocks

MANDEVILLE, John [= Jehan d'OUTREMEUSE]. The voyages & travels of Sir John Mandevile, Knight, ... to the Holy Land, and to Hierusalem: as also to the lands of the Great Caan, and of Prestor John: to Inde, and divers other countries: ...
London, Richard Chiswell, Benjamin Walford, Matthew Wotton, George Conyers, 1696. 4to. With a woodcut ship on the title-page and about 60 woodcut illustrations in the text (mostly about 5.5 x 8 cm) plus about 10 repeats. Gold-tooled, red goatskin morocco by Robert Riviere in London (ca. 1875/80), one of England's best binders. [4], “139” [= 135], [5] pp. Full description
€ 22,500
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An Arabist advocating archaeological research of the Near East

MANGER, Samuel Hendrik. Oratio inauguralis, de incremento philologiae sacrae ab idonea Arabiae atque Palaestinae exploratione sperando.
Franeker, Willem Coulon, 1762. Folio. With the woodcut coat of arms of Friesland on the title-page. Mid-19th-century marbled wrappers. [4], 67, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 1,250
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A collection of Venetian voyages to the Near and Middle East, printed at the Aldine press

[MANUZIO, Antonio (ed.)]. Viaggi fatti da Vinetia, alla Tana, in Persia, in India, et in Costantinopoli: con la descrittione particolare di città, luoghi, siti, costumi, & della porta del Gran Turco: & di tutte le intrate, spese, & modo di governo suo, & della ultima impresa contra Portoghesi.
Venice, sons of Aldus Manutius, 1545. 8vo. With Alduss woodcut anchor device on the title-page. 18th-century English polished calf. 163 ll. Full description
€ 7,500
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Cross-cultural mapping of the Red Sea: Bruce's chart in an early Egyptian manuscript copy

[MAP - ARABIAN PENINSULA]. BRUCE, James. Carte de la mer Rouge, relevée sur celle de James Bruce.
[Egypt, probably Cairo], 1827. Folio leaf (46 x 31.5 cm). Manuscript map in pen and ink with watercolour, with a French text on Middle Eastern hand-made paper. Full description
€ 15,000
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Ottoman map of Iraq, Kuwait and southwestern Iran, used by its army in World War I

[MAP - OTTOMAN ARMY]. [Iraq, Kuwait and Iran].
Istanbul, [Erkan-i Harbiye-i Umumiye], 1331 Rumi [= 1915 CE]. Colour-lithographed map of Iraq, Kuwait and southwestern Iran (65.5 x 66 cm) in black, brown, blue and green at a scale of 1:1,000,000, dissected into 12 sections and mounted on contemporary cloth. Full description
€ 3,500
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Field guide for officers during the Mesopotamian campaign (1914-1918), with a folding map

[MESOPOTAMIA]. [Indian Army General Staff]. For official use only. Field notes. Mesopotamia. General staff, India. February 1917.Including: Index to field notes, Mesopotamia, 1917.
Calcutta, Superintended government printing, 1917. Small 8vo. With 1 folding heliozincographed map of "Lower Mesopotamia", with some routes in red, and three folding letterpress tables. Original green cloth. [3], [1], 326(=325), [1]; [1], [1 blank], XX pp. Full description
€ 6,500
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Two British voyages to the Middle East and the Moghul Empire

MILDENHALL, John, John CARTWRIGHT and [Samuel PURCHAS (editor)]. Oost-Indise voyagien van Johan Mildenhal en Johan Cartwright; onder veel avontuuren en opmerkelyke waarnemingen, (in de jaren 1599 en 1606) te water en te lande, gedaan na de landen van Persien en den Grooten Mogol.
Leiden, Pieter van der Aa, 1706. Folio. With an engraving on the title-page by Jan Goeree, 2 engraved illustrations in text and a woodcut tailpiece. Modern decorated cloth, dark blue title-labels. 10 ll. Full description
€ 750
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Rare handbooks of the British naval intelligence division on Arabia, Palestine, and Syria

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE DIVISION. Syria. April 1943.
With:
(2) IDEM. Palestine and Transjordan. December 1943.
(3) IDEM. Western Arabia and the Red Sea. June 1943.
Stationery Office, University Press Oxford, 1943-1946.
3 volumes. Many plates, tables and photographs. Each volume including separate fold-out maps, one in colour. Contemporary green cloth with the title in gold on the front boards and the spines. [2], XVI, 485, [1]; [2], XV, [1], 621, [1]; [2], XIX, [1], 659, [1] pp. Full description
€ 1,750
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Account of the first scientific expedition to the Middle East, Egypt, Persia and India

NIEBUHR, Carsten. Reize naar Arabië en andere omliggende landen.
Amsterdam, S.J. Baalde; Utrecht, J. van Schoonhoven and company (vol. 1) and Bartholomeus Wild (vol. 2) (colophons: Utrecht, printed by J.J. Besseling), 1776-1780. 2 volumes. 4to. With 2 engraved title-pages, each with a vignette, 31 engraved maps and plans and 94 other engraved plates. 19th-century half calf. Untrimmed. VIII, [6], 484, [2]; [16], 455, [1] pp. Full description
€ 6,000
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Historical work on the Saracens

OCKLEY, Simon. The conquest of Syria, Persia, and Aegypt, by the Saracens: containing the lives of Abubeker, Omar, and Othman, the immediate successors of Mahomet, giving an account of their most remarkable battles, sieges, &c. ...
London, for R. Knaplock, J. Sprint, R. Smith and J. Round, 1708. 8vo. Contemporary panelled calf with gold-stamped red label to gilt spine, leading edges gilt, red sprinkled edges. XXIV, [4], 391, [1 blank], [19], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 1,800
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"For Official Use Only."

PAGET, William Henry, MASON, A. H. & others (editors). Frontier and overseas expeditions from India. Compiled in the intelligence branch of the divisions of the chief of the staff army head quarters India. In six volumes. For official use only.
Simla, Government Monotype Press, 1907-1911. 8 volumes (6 plus 2 supplements). 8vo. With 43 maps and 8 plans.
Uniform contemporary half calf, green cloth sides, gold-stamped spine labels. Full description
€ 75,000
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Military expedition in the Nortwest Frontier of British India

[PHOTO ALBUM - PAKISTAN]. G.W. CURTIS (compiler). [Album of photographs documenting a British military tour on the Northwest Frontier].
Waziristan/Pakistan, 1923-1925. 4to album (22.5 x 17.5 cm). With 97 black & white photographs (each ca. 11 x 6.5 cm) inserted in "frames" on 24 paperboard leaves, with 2 "frames" on each page (1 frame has 2 photos in it). Contemporary cloth. [48] pp. with 97 photographs. Full description
€ 3,750
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Beautifully bound set of Pallas' famous description of Russia

PALLAS, Peter Simon (M. GAUTHIER DE LA PEYRONIE, transl.). Voyages de M. P.S. Pallas en differentes provinces de l'Empire de Russie, et dans l'Asie septentrionale.
Paris, Lagrange (vol. 1), Maradan (vol. 2-5; colophon of vol. 5: printed by Demonville), 1788-1793. 5 text volumes (4to) and 1 atlas volume (Imperial 4to: 33.5 x 25 cm). With 123 engraved plates and maps (27 folding), including a large folding map of the Russian Empire. Uniform gold-tooled tree calf, gilt edges. [3], [1 blank], XXXII, 773, [5]; [4], 550, [1], [1 blank]; [3], [1 blank], 492; [3], [1 blank], 722, [2]; [3], [1 blank], 559, [1] pp; atlas volume with 123 plates on 108 leaves. Full description
€ 12,500
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French edition of Pallas's travels through Russia

PALLAS, Peter Simon. Voyages du professeur Pallas, dans plusieurs provinces de l'empire de Russie et dans l'Asie septentrionale; Traduits de l'allemand par le C. Gauthier de la Peyronie. Nouvelle Édition, Revue et enrichie de Notes par CC. Lamarck ... et Langlès...
Paris, Maradan, an II [1794]. 8 text-volumes and 1 atlas-volume. 8vo (text) and large 4to (atlas). With 8 title-pages and 8 half-titles, 108 engraved plates and maps, of which 22 folding and 2 double-page. Uniform contemporary mottled calf, richly gold-tooled spines. [8], 422, [2]; [4], 490; [4], 492; [4], 499; 448; 455; 448; [4], VIII, 463 pp. Full description
€ 2,950
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A crucial moment in the history of the Russian expansion in Central Asia

[PEROVSKY, Vasily Aleksyeevic]. A narrative of the Russian military expedition to Khiva, under General Perofski in 1839.
Calcutta, Office of superintendent government printing, 1867. 8°. With 1 folding plate (plan of the camp, with the positions of the troops) and 1 folding map of the region Orenburg, Kazachstan. Original publishers green cloth; re-backed with original backstrip laid down. [2], ii, 182 pp. Full description
€ 4,750
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Negotiating an alliance between the Prince of the Bezancudos tribe and the Emperor of Persia

[PERSIA - ANONYMOUS]. Relacam da celebre embaixada, que o Principe dos Bezancudos mandou ao Schach da Persia, Tha'mas Kouli-khan, para o conciliar seu Aliado temendo o seu poder; e se fez esta funçao em 8 de Junho deste presente anno de 1744. com huma breve noticia dos Bezancudos, e seu Paiz.
Lisbon, Pedro Ferreira, 1744. 4to (19.5 x 13.5 cm). With a printer's device on the title-page. Modern half red morocco. 8 pp., with 28 additional blank, modern leaves. Full description
€ 2,500
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The First Anglo-Afghan War: an extraordinary snapshot of the North-West Frontier of British India
between 1840 en 1845.

[PUNJAB-BRITISH SECRETARIAT]. Press lists of old records in the Punjab Secretariat - Volume VII. - North-West Frontier Agency. Correspondence with Government, 1840-1845.
Lahore, printed by the superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1915. 1 volume bound as 2. Folio. With an addendum slip facing p. 197. Brown calf, with "Book 1" and "Book 2" in gold on the spines. [2?], 993 pp. Full description
€ 6,500
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Radical critique of European overseas expansion in 10 volumes. Extremely rare second Dutch edition

RAYNAL, Guillaume Thomas François. Wysgeerige en staatkundige geschiedenis van de bezittingen en den koophandel der Europeaanen, in de beide Indiën.
Amsterdam, Matthijs Schalekamp, 1792-1803. 10 volumes bound as 9. 8vo. With 2 different engraved author's portraits, 8 engraved plates (5 as frontispieces), 12 engraved folding maps and 23 letterpress folding tables. Contemporary half calf, gold-tooled spine. VI, [4], 469, [19]; [8], 533, [1 blank], 11, [1 blank]; [8], 508, [11], [1 blank]; [8], 427, [9], [2 blank]; [8], 365, [9]; [8], 426, [10]; [10], 501, [7]; [8], 458, [11], [1 blank]; [8], 339, [10], [1 blank]; [4], 432, [13], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 7,500
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Rare description of Russia just after the Turkish war,
with a revised version of the first map of the entire Russian Empire

REITZ, Johann Frederik, and others. Oude en nieuwe staat van't Russische of Moskovische Keizerryk, behelzende eene uitvoerige historie van Rusland en deszelfs groot-vorsten; benevens de beschryvinge van dat uitgestrekte ryk, de zeden en godsdienst der inwoneren: zyne opkomst en voortgang in koophandel, kunsten, land- en zeemacht, oproeren, oorlogen en verdere wisselvalligheden, tot dezen tegenwoordigen tydt toe.
Utrecht, Johannes Broedelet, 1744. 4 volumes. 4to. With 4 folding maps, 3 folding plates and a folding letterpress table. Early 19th-century half red sheepskin. [2], 296; [2], 200, 200a-200d; [2], 501; [2], 830 pp. Full description
€ 4,250
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With a double-page plan and 34 tinted lithographed views of the fortified city of Jalalabad, Afghanistan

SALE, Sir Robert H. (and others). The defence of Jellalabad, ... drawn on stone by W.L. Walton.
London, Joseph Hogarth, Henry Graves & Co., and sold by Hullmandel & Walton, [1845/46]. 1mo (full-sheet leaves) (54 x 37 cm). With a lithographed frontispiece portrait of Sale by Thomas Fairl and after a painting by Scarlet Davis, a lithographed illustrated title-page, a lithographed dedication to Queen Victoria (reproducing Sales hand-written and signed dedication), a double-page "Plan of Jellalabad" (51.5 x 60 cm, lithographed by S. Leith in Edinburgh) and 34 tinted lithographic views of the city and its fortifications (in landscape format) on 22 leaves.
Gold-tooled red goatskin morocco, richly gold-tooled turn-ins, gold-tooled board edges, yellow endpapers, gilt edges. Lithographed frontispiece, title-page & dedication plus 5, [1 blank] pp. plus plates. Full description
€ 15,000
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The first-ever critical edition of an Arabic text

SCALIGER, Joseph Justus and Thomas ERPENIUS. [Kitab al-Amthal] seu proverbiorum Arabicorum centuriae duae.
Leiden, Frans van Ravelingen, 1614. 4to (16 × 20 cm). Ad 1 with a woodcut printers device on the title-page, woodcut initials and tailpieces. Ad 2 with a woodcut printers device on the title-page, woodcut tailpieces and woodcut ornamental frames around typographic Arabic initials. With:
(2) Cogitata nova de [kari] Psalm XXII, 17 & Jes. XXXIIX, 13 censurae philologorum committet ho elachistos ton philologounton.
[ca. 1615?].
(3) [BIBLE - NEW TESTAMENT - ARABIC]. ERPENIUS, Thomas (editor). [Risalat Bulus al-rasul ila ahl Rumija]. Pauli apostoli ad Romanos epistola, arabice.
Leiden, Typographia Erpeniana, 1615. Contemporary marbled calf. [8], 126, [2 blank]; [8]; [48] pp. Full description
€ 18,000
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History of Tamerlane's conquests, with 5 engraved maps

SHARAF AD-DIN ALI YAZDI. Histoire de Timur-Bec, connu sous le nom du grand Tamerlan, empereur des Mogols et Tartares.
Delft, Reinier Boitet, 1723. 4 volumes. 12mo. With an engraved portrait of Timur and 5 folding engraved maps. Contemporary mottled calf, gold-tooled spines. [1], [1 blank], [6], XXXIX, [23], 475, [1 blank]; [1], [1 blank], [6], 431, [1 blank]; [1], [1 blank], 421, [1 blank]; [1], [1 blank], [6], 303, [3 blank] pp. Full description
€ 2,950
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Explorations in Chinese Turkistan and adjacent parts of innermost Asia

STEIN, Marc Aurel. On ancient Central-Asian tracks. Brief narrative of three expeditions in innermost Asia and north-western China.
London, MacMillan and Co., 1933. With frontispiece, map and 147 illustrations (some folding). Original publisher's brown/red cloth. xxiv, 342, [2] pp. Full description
€ 1,800
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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
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Socialist propaganda about the state of the Syria and its people after the March Revolution in 1963

[SYRIA - BA'ATH ARAB SOCIALIST PARTY]. Syria after two years of the March Revolution.
[Syria, Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party], 1965. 24 x 17 cm. With 28 photos on 16 plates and some tables in the text.
With: [MAP - SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC MINISTRY OF ECONOMY DIRECTORATE OF TOURISM]. Syria.
Damascus, Tourist Office, [ca. 1965]. Folded. 70 x 49.5 cm.
A brightly coloured folding map of Syria with some information about the country and its principal cities with a table of distances on the back, all text in the map and on the back is in English and Arabic.
Original publisher's printed wrappers, stapled. 175, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 850
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Rare textbook for government officials, containing two historically important Persian texts

[TEXTBOOK - PERSIAN]. Ganjína-i-muhárawát. The Wazír-i-Lankurán and a selection from the diary of Násiru-d-dín Sháh containig [!] an account of the journey of the Sháh of Persia from Tehrán to Russia. Being a text book for the lower standard examination in Persian.
Calcutta, "published by authority", 1909. 8vo. With a floral ornament on page 3. The text is set in Persian script. Original quarter purple cloth and blue printed paper over boards, with the title in Persian on the front board and in English on the back board. [1], [1 blank], 80, [1 blank], [1] pp. Full description
€ 1,250
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Russian mission to China, with a plan of Beijing

TIMKOWSKI, Egor Fedorovitch. Voyage à Peking, à travers la Mongolie en 1820 et 1821.
Paris, Dondey-Dupré père et Fils, 1827. 2 text volumes (8vo) and one atlas volume (folio). With lithographed title-page, 3 lithographed maps and plans, 8 lithographed plates with copies after Chinese and other drawings. Text volumes in contemporary half calf and atlas in original brown wrappers. [8], XII, 480; [4], 459; 32 pp. Full description
€ 4,500
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Rare first edition of an early work by Trotsky

TROTSKY, Leon. Tuda i Obratno: vmesto predislovija. I. Ot Peterburga do Berezzova. Sovet rabočich deputatov po etapam. II. Moj pobeg. - 800 verst na olenjach. [There and back again] [text in Russian in Cyrillic type].
St. Petersburg, Shipovnik, 1907. With a lithographed device on the front cover. Original publisher's printed wrappers. 123, [1 blank], IV pp. Full description
€ 1,250
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Richly illustrated journey of Nicholas II of Russia through Asia

UKHTOMSKY (UCHTOMSKIJ), Esper Esperovich and Hermann BRUNNHOFER (translator). Orientreise seiner kaiserlichen Hoheit des Grossfürsten-Thronfolgers Nikolaus Alexandrowitsch von Russland, 1890-1891.
Leipzig, F.A. Brockhaus, 1894-1899. 2 volumes. 4to. With engraved portrait of Nicholas, 7 photogravures, 541 wood engravings after drawings and photographs and 5 chromolithographed maps. Publisher's cloth, richly blocked in black, gold and grey, gilt edges. [4], 476; [4], 482 pp. Full description
€ 8,500
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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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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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In search of a northeast passage

VEER, Gerrit de (et al.). Verhael van de eerste schip-vaert der Hollandische ende Zeeusche schepen door 't Way-gat, by Noorden Noorwegen, Moscovien ende Tartarien, na de coninckrijcken Cathay ende China. Met drie schepen, uyt Texel gezeylt in den jare 1594. Hier achter is by-ghevoeght de beschrijvinghe van de landen Siberien, Samoyeda, ende Tingoesa. Seer vreemt en vermaackelijck om lesen.
Amsterdam, for Joost Hartgers, 1648. 4to. With woodcut illustration on title-page and a double-page engraved plate with 6 illustrations. Old marbled wrappers. [2], 57, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 3,950
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Russia, Germany and the Netherlands revolting against the yoke of Napoleon

VENTURINI, Karl Heinrich Georg (Martinus Gerardus ENGELMAN, transl.). Geschiedenis van den oorlog, in de jaren 1812-1815.
Amsterdam, C. & H. Timmer, 1816-1819. 8 parts in 4 volumes. 8vo. Each volume with an engraved vignette showing a different scene from the Northern Liberation War, by P. Velijn. Contemporary half calf. [2], IV, 313; [4], 310; [2], 342; [4], 346; [2], 312; [4], 318; [2], 334; [4], 333 pp. Full description
€ 1,750
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Vernay's poetry in French, Turkish, Persian and other languages: unrecorded Royal folio issues, planned for presentation to the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid I and with extensive additions

VERNAY, Charles. Poésies nationales et religieuses Françaises, Italiennes, Turques et Persanes, 195 pièces orientales, leur traductions, et le texte Turc et Persan de 57 pièces ...
Paris, Albert Franck (on back of half-title: printed by Firmin Didot frères), 1860[-1861]. With a lithographed portrait of the author, 5 lithographed facsimiles of the author's autograph manuscripts and 4 of the letterpress pages printed in gold. Extra-illustrated with 3 lithographed and 4 engraved Royal folio illustration plates (including 2 portraits of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid I).
With:
(2) VERNAY, Charles. Poésies Turques et Persanes (cent quarante et une pièces) ...
Paris, Albert Franck (below frame: lithographed by [Mathieu] Masson), "1858-1859" [= AH 1275]. With a letterpress wrapper-title in French, printed in gold, a lithographed Turkish and Persian wrapper-title (dated "1275" and "1858") and text in Turkish and Persian, lithographed from the autograph manuscript in Arabic script, all printed in gold, and a lithographed portrait of the author (the same as in ad 1).
(3) VERNAY, Charles. Nouvelles poésies Persanes et Turques ...
Paris, Albert Frank, July 1860 (colophon: lithographed by [Mathieu] Masson, r. de Valois 48, Paris). A large 4to bifolium, with a lithographic facsimile of a 4-page autograph manuscript in Arabic script, printed on blue paper.
(4-18) VERNAY, Charles. [Miscellaneous publications in various formats, some letterpress, others lithographed facsimiles of the author's autograph manuscripts in French, Turkish and Persian, and including a 1-leaf autograph manuscript in Persian].
Paris, Firmin Didot frères and others, 1851-1858.
18 publications in 1 volume. Royal folio (49.5 x 34.5 cm) with a few items in smaller formats. Contemporary diced, richly gold-tooled calf, each board with a double frame of rolls and stamps, a crescent moon and star inside each corner of the inner frame, blind-tooled turn-ins, green silk brocade endleaves. [2], 4, [1], [1 blank], 142, 4, 143-262, 263-266[bis], 263-266[ter], 263-476, [2], [1 blank], [1]; 112; [4] pp. plus the wrappers and numerous inserted items. Full description
€ 28,000
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"Arabia Petra" explored: account of an expedition (1865) through the Sinai, Petra in Jordan, and surrounding regions, with 48 plates and albumen prints

VISCONTI, Giammartino Arconati. Diario di un viaggio in Arabia Petrea (1865).Including: Atlante per servire al Diario di un viaggio in Arabia Petrea.
Torino, Vincenzo Bona, 1872. 2 volumes. Royal 4to (31 x 27 cm). With 2 title-pages printed in red and black, each with the author's wood-engraved decorated GAV-monogram and motto; vol. 1 with 2 folding lithographed maps (1 printed in black, brown and blue, with the route coloured by hand in red, of the Sinai Peninsula; the other in black and white, of the city of Petra); 40 mounted albumen prints after paintings by Emile Pierre Metzmacher (mainly 11.5 x 16 cm), individually mounted with letterpress captions on the mount; and 2 engraved plates; vol. 2 with 6 numbered engraved plates of molluscs and insects. The Diario in the original publisher's maroon cloth with the author's crowned monogram gold--blocked on the front board and spine. The Atlante in the original publisher's blue cloth, with the author's crowned monogram and the title gold-blocked on the front board. Both volumes with gilt edges, orange endpapers and with tissue guard leaves tipped in, protecting the albumen prints and engraved plates. 439; 46, [2 blank] pp. (vol. II, pp. 1-2 blank). Full description
€ 25,000
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An overview and translation of Aramaic inscriptions found in Syria,
with commentary: from Palmyra and the Hauran region

VOGÜÉ, Melchior de. Syrie centrale. Inscriptions sémitiques publiées avec traduction et commentaire.
Paris, J. Baudry, 1868. Folio With 16 plates reproducing inscriptions, plates 1-4, 6, 7, 12, 14 and 15 are engravings and plates 5, 8-11, 13 and 16 are lithographs. All are after drawings by Melchior de Vogüé and all except no. 12 were engraved or lithographed by E. Roussaux and printed by J. Grandjean in Paris. Plate no. 12 was engraved by L. Dardel and printed by Lamoureux in Paris. With additional illustrations in the text and parts of the text in Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek type. Modern half calf, marbled boards, silver lettering on spine. [4], II, [2], 132 pp. Full description
€ 5,000
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A captivating account of Nader Shah's greatest campaign against the Mughal Empire

[VOULTON, Monsieur de?]. Verdadeira, e exacta noticia dos progressos de Thamas Kouli Khan Schach da Persia no imperio do Gram Mogôr, escrita na lingua Persiana em Delhy em 21. de Abril de 1739. e mandada a Roma por Mons. Voulton. Acrecentada com outras chegadas por varias partes, com hum mapa do thesouro do Gram Mogôr levado a Hispahan pelo mesmo Schach. Dadas á luz na lingua Portugueza.
Lisbon, Antonio Correa Lemos, 1740. 4to (19.5 x 14 cm). With woodcut decorations. Modern half red goatskin morocco. 19, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 3,500
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Beautifully illustrated description of Palestine, Sinai and Egypt

WILSON, Charles. Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt. Edited by Colonel Wilson, R.E, C.B., F.R.S. formerly engineer to the Palestine Exploration Society. Assisted by the most eminent Palestine explorers etc. With numerous engravings on steel and wood.
London, Virtue and Co., [ca. 1870]. 4 volumes. Large 4to (33 x 25 cm). With 4 title-pages in red and black, each with a different large steel-engraved vignette, 38 steel-engraved plates (including 4 different frontispieces), 2 double-page engraved maps of Egypt and Sinai, printed in brown, and 576 wood-engravings on integral leaves, many full-page. Contemporary half sheepskin. [2], X, 240; [2], VI, 240; [2], IV, 240; [2], IV, 236 pp. Full description
€ 2,500
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