Autographs, Documents & Manuscripts

[NAVIGATION]. [VRIES, Klaas de, and others]. Schatkamer of konst der stuurlieden.
[Holland?], [ca. 1735/40?]. Folio (31.5 x 20.5 cm). A manuscript course in navigation written in brown ink on laid paper in a largely upright cursive hand, with 6 colour figures, including 2 volvelles, about 100 black and white diagrams, and numerous tables of data, highlighted with a yellow wash. Green paper wrappers (made from a discarded prospectus or the wrapper of an instalment of a book, [ca. 1865?]), later green cloth spine. [2 blank], 16, 19-109, [9 blank] pp. Full description

VRIES, Klaas de and Sietse DAUWES. Konst der stierlieden[!] voor deezen beschreeven van den navigateur Klaas de Vries. Uijtgewerkt door Sietse Dauwes. Van de Lemmer. Begonnen, in den jaare 1814. Maand Januarij.
Lemmer, Friesland, The Netherlands, 1814. Folio (32 x 21 cm). With more than 350 instructive diagrams and drawings and several tables. The Dutch text is written in a clearly legible, 19th-century cursive hand in brown ink. Contemporary quarter red sheepskin and blue marbled paper sides. [1], [100], [115 blank] ll. Full description

WALBEEK, Willem. Livre d'ecrire ... a l'ecole de Monsieur Hermanus vander Laan ...
Haarlem, 30 October 1749-13 January 1750. Folio (31 x 20 cm). Manuscript calligraphic copy-book with Dutch texts (except for the French title-page and colophon), written in black ink on laid paper, with a calligraphic title-page followed by 43 pages of calligraphic examples on 23 leaves. An additional loosely inserted leaf has one additional full-page example, also by Walbeek. Contemporary decorated paper wrappers (block-printed flower pattern with a dotted background). [1], [1 blank], [45], [1 blank] pp. plus 1 loosely inserted leaf. Full description

[WASF AL-RUSUL]. [Kitab Wasf al-Rusul wa al-Imama].
[Near East, ca. 1820?] Small folio (ca. 21 x 30 cm). Arabic manuscript in a naskh script, written in black ink on paper, with headings, key words and short passages in red, ruled in red throughout (often in complex patterns to form tables and geometric shapes) and with a diagrammatic human body also in red, 2 leaves with circular diagrams, some ruled leaves blank (text never completed). Contemporary limp leather. 74 ll. Full description

[WATERMARK - ELEPHANT]. [A blank half-sheet of paper of the size called "Elephant"].
[France?, used in the Netherlands?], [ca. 1650]. Elephant folio leaf (35 x 52 cm). With a large (87 x 162 mm) elephant watermark. Full description

[WEAVING]. Schnürungsbuch.
"Vaals-Aachen" [on the Dutch-German border], Höhere technische Schule für Tuchfabrikation, [ca. 1900]. Oblong folio (24 x 32 cm). Manuscript in German, written in black ink in a neat and legible Latin hand on paperboard leaves, comprising short instructional texts and about 2000 colour-coded weaving patterns and small samples of woven cloth mounted on both sides of the leaves. Contemporary beige half cloth. [2 blank], [117], [1 blank] pp. Full description

WICHERS, Wicher. [Manuscript letter to Hans Hartwich, Capiteyn op s'landts oorlogschip Harderwijk].
The Hague, 29 July 1690. Small folio (31 x 20.5 cm). Manuscript letter in in 7 lines on one page, with the signatures of Wicher Wichers and François Fagel, followed by two blank pages, and the name of the addressee in manuscript on the fourth page with a seal. [1], [2 blank], [1] pp. Full description

WILLEM FREDERIK of Orange. [Autograph letter, signed, to Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt].
Berlin, 2 October 1791. 4to (23 x 18.5 cm). Autograph letter in French, in ink on laid paper, signed and dated. [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT]. WILLIAM III, Prince of Orange. [Decree granting a salary to Johan Theodor, Baron of Friesheim, as chief bailiff and state prosecutor in 's-Hertogenbosch].
The Hague, 2 April 1681. Folio (31.5 x 20.5 cm). Written in brown ink on paper, with the armorial seal of William of Orange stamped on a decorative paper cut-out over red wax. [1], [3 blank] pp. Full description