Asher Rare Books

Arabic fables by “the greatest figure in the whole corpus of pre-Islamic myth and legend”, second edition, incorporating Erpenius’s manuscript revisions to his first edition

LUQMAN al-Hakim (notes by Thomas ERPENIUS). Fabulae et selecta quaedam Arabum adagia. Cum interpretatione latina & notis Thomae Erpenii.
Leiden, Joannes Maire (colophon: "excudebat" Willem Christiaens van der Boxe, "typis" Johannes Janssonius), 1636. 4to. With Maire's woodcut device on the title-page and Van der Boxe's woodcut device above the colophon. Early 19th-century boards covered with blue brocade paper. 60, [2] pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Arabic Printing & Calligraphy Fable Books Islamic Art, Culture & Science Literature

Extremely rare work by Jan Luykens father on profit without loss, here for the first time including the second part

LUYKEN, Caspar. Onfeylbare regel van winste sonder verlies... Hier is noch achter gevoeght De wissel-banck, geopent door den selven autheur. De derde druck.
Amsterdam, Christoffel Luycken, 1663. 2 parts in 1 volume. 12mo. With small woodcut vignette on 2 title-pages. Contemporary vellum with manuscript title on spine, red speckled edges. 212; 52 pp. Full description

€ 5,000

Bibles, Liturgy & Devotional Works Dutch Literature Economic History & Trade

Early spiritual emblem book with poems and engravings by Jan Luyken

[LUYKEN, Jan]. Jezus en de ziel. Een geestelycke spiegel voor 't gemoed. Bestaande uyt veertig aangename en stichtelycke sinne-beelden.
Amsterdam, Pieter Arentsz., 1687. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece and 39 engraved emblems in text, all engraved by Jan Luyken. Contemporary vellum, sprinkled edges. 191, [5] pp. Full description

€ 1,100

Book of Hours, Missals & Prayerbooks Emblems

Attractive set containing most of the emblematic works of Jan Luyken, with a total of 700 engravings

LUYKEN, Jan (and Caspar). [Set of 11 works by Jan Luyken].
Amsterdam, widow of P. Arentz, and Kornelis vander Sys, 1708 - 1718 (10 vols.); Haarlem, C.H. Bohn, 1767 (1 vol.). 11 volumes. 8vo. Contemporary uniform half calf, richly gold-tooled spines (10 vols.), the 1767 in slightly different half calf, apparently made to match the earlier ones. Full description

€ 12,000

Art & Art History Dutch Literature Emblems

A French Robinsonade in German

[MALLÈS DE BEAULIEU, Jeanne-Sophie]. Begebenheiten eines französischen Schiffsjungen auf einer unbewohntern Insel, oder der zwölfjährige Robinson.
Zürich & Leipzig, Trachslerschen Buch- u. Kunsthandlung, [1824]. Small 8vo. With an illustrated engraved title-page, engraved frontispiece and 4 engraved plates, all aquatints which are richly and beautifully coloured by hand. Contemporary green cloth, gold-tooled spine. 324 pp. Full description

€ 2,000

Children's Books Imaginary Voyages & Utopias

Ca. 9000 Arabic terms and translations

[MANUSCRIPT - ARABIC - DICTIONARY]. [Vocabularium Italico-Arabicum]. Arabic-Italian dictionary.
[Probably Egypt, ca. 1770]. 4to (ca. 17 x 22 cm). Arabic and Italian manuscript on paper, 19 lines per extensum, paginated throughout from right to left. Near-contemporary brown leather with a blind-stamped oriental rosette as a center piece and similar style corner pieces on both boards, a (partial) manuscript title-label on the spine. 494 pp. Full description

€ 18,000

Islamic Art, Culture & Science Italy Language & Linguistics Literature Manuscripts & Documents North Africa & Egypt

Short manuscript descriptions of various birds, animals, plants and trees found in the forests of Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

[MANUSCRIPT - CEYLON - NATURAL HISTORY]. Schets van eenige zoorten van dieren welke in de bosschen omstreeks Cijlon gevonden worden.
[Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and the Netherlands?], [18th or 19th century?]. 8vo (16.5 x 10.5 cm). Written in a late 18th-century or early 19th-century cursive in French and Dutch.
With: (2) [MANUSCRIPT - FRENCH & DUTCH POEMS AND SONGS]. [Quelques Chansons]. Contemporary decorated paper wrappers. [28] pp. Full description

€ 1,750

Ceylon Dutch Literature Faunas & General Zoology French Literature India & Sri Lanka Literature Manuscripts & Documents VOC

Romantic imaginary voyage in French verses

[MANUSCRIPT - FRENCH - IMAGINARY VOYAGE]. Voyage imaginaire. Poème. Chant 1-4.
Adegeest (manor house at Voorschoten, between The Hague and Leiden), 1853. Large 4to (27 x 21.5 cm). Loose quires in cover: marbled boards joined together by a spine of red painted sheepskin, green ties. [2], V, 81, 120, VI, 132, 131 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

France French Literature Imaginary Voyages & Utopias Literature Manuscripts & Documents

Highly detailed and brightly coloured botanical emblematic fore-edge painting
taken from Camerarius's Symbolorum et emblematum

MARCHESE, Duca Annibale. Tragedie Cristiane.
Naples, Felice Mosca, 1729. 2 volumes in 1. Large 8vo. With two title-pages in red and black, an engraved frontispiece by Jeremias Jakob Sedelmayr after Francesco Solimena, an engraved author's portrait by Antonio Baldi and 11 engraved plates by Sedelmayr and Baldi after Solimena, accompanying the 10 tragedies and the dedication. Also with some engraved initials, woodcut tailpieces and 40 pages of engraved polyphonic music for the choruses. Contemporary gold-tooled brown goatskin morocco, gilt and gauffered edges with an intricate fore-edge painting, incorporating both a closed and fanned design for the fore-edge. The head and foot edges are painted with floral and botanical designs. [4], [16], 502; [4], 504, [2]; pp. plus 40 pp. of engraved music. Full description

€ 8,500

Bindings Drawings & Watercolours Italian Literature Italy Literature

Very rare edition of an extremely popular history of the most famous
and daring Dutch pirate of the 17th century

[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 Kennemer-landt. Vervattende sijn wonderlijcke vreemde en lands schadelijcke drijf-tochten. Waer in vertoont wordt, hoe hy met weyningh schepen de zee onveyligh gemaeckt, een ongelooflijcke buyt, en groot getal van schepen van alle landen gerooft ende afgeloopen heeft
Amsterdam, widow of Gijsbert de Groot, 1697. 8vo. With a large woodcut illustration of a Dutch merchant ship on the title-page, three woodcut illustrations in the text (including 1 repeat of the title-page illustration), and one large decorated woodcut initial. Later greyish-brown wrappers. [1], [1 blank], [4], 42 pp. Full description