History, Law & Philosophy

[MANUSCRIPT LETTER - VOC - CEYLON]. [Mattheus SCHENKENBERG]. [Contemporary copy of a letter dated 3 January 1699 from Mattheus Schenkenberg to his uncle Harmen van Soelen].
[Jaffanapatnam, Ceylon, 3 January 1699]. Folio (33 x 21 cm). The Dutch letter is written in a neat late 17th-century cursive hand in brown ink. Folded and kept together by an orange, white and blue piece of string in the left margin (1.5 cm from the edge of the leaves, in the middle). [5], [3 blank] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - GERMAN & LATIN - HERALDRY - LITURGY]. MAYER, Lieven. (Drop-title on f. 5r:) Der hochen Deutschen Ritterordens Buech ...
[Germany], [after 1606, perhaps before 1618]. 4to. Manuscript in German and Latin on paper, written in a 17th-century hand. With 3 heraldic crosses showing the coats of arms of the Teutonic Order (a black Maltese cross) and 4 drawings showing costumes of several members of the order, all executed in watercolour highlighted with eggwhite. 20th-century mottled sheepskin, sewn on 5 supports, each board with a frame of blind double fillets crossing at the corners, with blind double fillets across the spine, title stamped in green roman capitals in the 3rd of 6 compartments. [5], 129 ll. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - SIGNATURES - THE NETHERLANDS]. Handteekeningen van I. Gecommiteerde Raden van de Staten van Holland... II. Vorsten, staatsmannen, krijgsbevelhebbers, geleerden enz. ...
[The Netherlands, early 19th century]. Large 4to. With 162 signatures on 160 vellum or paper cuttings (mostly vellum, including 2 cuttings with 2 signatures each), mostly from the 17th century, some from the 18th century and a few from the early 19th century. Further with one large printed coat of arms (of the Wassenaer family) on the verso of the title page, an engraving (ca. 9.5 x 7 cm) showing the house of Jacob Cats on the verso of leaf 34, and with 19 printed coats of arms on the versos of several leaves (16 depicting a coat of arms with the name of the family below and 3 blank shields). The title-page, headings, and captions all in a very neat late-18th-century or early 19th-century cursive script, written in Dutch using brown ink. Splendid late 18th-century (ca. 1790) gold-tooled red morocco, sewn on 4 supports with a smooth spine, bound by the so-called Second Dissertation Bindery (Leiden ca. 1780-ca. 1794; Storm van Leeuwen IIA, pp. 350-358), with 4 closing loops on the front board (1 top edge, 2 fore-edge, 1 bottom edge) connecting to 4 closing knotted buttons on the back board. Both boards show 3 gold-tooled floral frames built up from 2 different rolls with small corner pieces in between, the inner frame with 4 larger floral corner pieces and a large lozenge shaped centrepiece built up from multiple impressions of 5 different floral and animal stamps. Further with a gold-tooled spine and board edges, gilt edges, and marbled endpapers. [1], 40 ll. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - UTRECHT - STRICK VAN LINSCHOTEN, Johan]. [Fair copies of and extracts from official documents, from 1605 to 1635, concerning Johan Strick van Linschoten (1583-1648), initially Canon and finally Secretary of the Oudmunster chapter church in Utrecht, and influential member of the States Assembly of the province of Utrecht; Prince Maurits and others].
[Utrecht], ca. 1621-ca. 1635. Folio (31 x 20 cm). Contemporary sheepskin parchment, with remnants of leather ties. Manuscript title on the spine and writing on the front board. [5 blank], "260" [= 263], [1] ll. Full description

[MAP - ARABIAN PENINSULA OIL RESOURCES]. Neft ba-mizrah ha-tikhon. Zikaynot, shadot, tzinorot, batei zikuk. [= Oil in the Middle East. Concessions, oilfields, pipelines, refineries].
Tel Aviv, Israel Defence Forces, General Staff, [1957]. 56 x 82.5 cm. Chromolithographic map of the Arabian Peninsula, from Turkey in the north to the Indian Ocean in the south, and covering Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, North and South Yemen. Scale 1:5,000,000. Scale and key in Hebrew inset to top-right, inset explanatory panels in Hebrew and English, compass rose in Saudi Arabia. Folded. Full description

[LAFRERI - DUCHETTI - FLORINI - MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS - ITALY]. [Large album with 16th-century maps and engravings of Italy].
[Italy, late 16th and early 17th century]. Large oblong folio (ca. 59 x 42.3 cm). With 76 full-page engravings, and 12 full-page etchings. 17th-century gold-tooled brown calf, sewn on 6 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, a red morocco title label on the spine with the title "Novissim[a] urbis Romae descript[io]" lettered in gold, gold-tooled board edges. Full description

[MARCEL, Jean-Joseph?]. [Islamic coins and medals].
[Paris?], [ca. 1791-ca. 1817?]. Mostly folio (31.5 x 21 cm). A manuscript compilation of loose leaves and bifolia, with about 104 drawings (some in ink; some in coloured gouaches, many including gold, silver and other metallic colours) and about 53 engravings (some black on white; some white on black) each drawing and engraving showing the obverse and reverse of an Islamic coin or medal (except for about 3 that show only one side). Most of the drawings and engravings are on slips attached to leaves with notes in Arabic and French.Loose leaves and bifolia. [ca. 150] ll. Full description

MARCELLUS EMPIRICUS. De medicamentis Empiricis physicis ac rationalibus liber.
Basel, Froben, 1536. With a woodcut caduceus device on title-page and several woodcut initials. Set in roman types.
With: (2) [THORER, Alban]. [De re medica].
(Colophon: Basel, Andreas Cratander, 1528). With the first leaf of the main text in a 4-piece woodcut border (3 initalled I.F.), Cratander's woodcut device on the last otherwise blank leaf, showing Occasio, the goddess of chance, and dozens of charming woodcut initials. Set in roman types. 2 works in 1 volume. Small folio (30 x 22 cm). 20th-century half parchment. 252, [12]; 125, [1] ll. Full description

MARCUS, Jacobus. Deliciae Batavicae[.]...
Amsterdam, Johannes Janssonius, 1618. Oblong 8vo (text) & small oblong 4to (plates) (14.5 x 19 cm). With 8 engraved armorial plates. These are followed by 30 engraved views or scenes most with a Latin distich at the foot. Interleaved. Sprinkled calf (ca. 1700), gold-tooled spine. [1], [1 blank], [5], [1 blank] pp. plus plates. Full description

[MARGHINANI, `Ali ibn Abi Bakr] (Charles HAMILTON, transl.). The Hedàya, or Guide; a commentary on the Mussulman laws: translated by the order of the Governor-General and Council of Bengal.
London, Thomas Bensley, 1791. 4 volumes. Small folio (22 x 27.5 cm). Modern half calf in period style, marbled sides, gold-tooled smooth spine divided into six fields by rolls, black morocco spine label in the second field, the others with an arabesque ornament. [2], LXXXIX, [1], XII, 561, [3]; VIII, 727, [3]; VIII, 609, [3]; VIII, 574, [54] pp. Errata leaf at end of each volume. Full description