Asher Rare Books

Large paper copy of the beautifully illustrated first edition of De Bruyn’s travels to the Levant

BRUYN (LE BRUN), 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, printed by Hendrik van Kroonevelt [engravings printed by Petrus Schenk and Gerard Valck?], 1698. Large folio (39.5x26 cm). With engraved frontispiece, engraved author's portrait, large engraved folding map of the Mediterranean Sea, 103 engraved plates (many double-page and folding) and 18 engravings in text. 18th-century, gold-tooled, tanned goatskin; rebacked, with original backstrip laid down and modern endpapers. [20], 398, [8] pp. Full description

€ 25,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States North Africa & Egypt Travel & Voyages Middle East Turkey & Ottoman Empire

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

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Eastern Europe India & Sri Lanka Indonesia / Dutch East Indies Iran / Persia North Africa & Egypt Russia (incl. Siberia) Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Europe Travel & Voyages Middle East Travel & Voyages Southeast Asia Travel & Voyages Southern Asia Turkey & Ottoman Empire West Asia

First printed record of Abu Dhabi and Dubai: the first Latin edition

DE BRY, Theodor; Johann Israel DE BRY and Joris VAN SPILBERGEN. Indiae Orientalis pars septima [...].Including: Icones, hoc est verae variorum populorum et regum, ceremoniarum item, superstitiosorum rituum et rerum aliarum, ...
Frankfurt, Wolfgang Richter, 1606. Folio (32.5 x 20 cm). With the letterpress title in an engraved architectural border, a separate letterpress title-page for the Icones, an engraved coat of arms on the dedication leaf, 20 engravings in text and 2 double-page engraved plates. 20th-century green half morocco. [4], 126, [2 blank] pp.; 26 ll. Full description

€ 28,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Ceylon India & Sri Lanka Indonesia / Dutch East Indies Qatar Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Middle East Travel & Voyages Southeast Asia Travel & Voyages Southern Asia UAE - United Arab Emirates

Stunning lithographic illustrations and a detailed route map of a voyage
through Persia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and India

BURNES, Alexander. Voyages de l'embouchure de l'Indus a Lahor, Caboul, Balkh et a Boukhara; et retour par la Perse, pendant les années 1831, 1832 et 1833 ... Atlas.
Paris, Arthus Bertrand (colophon on back wrapper: Imprimerie et Fonderie de Fain), [1835]. 3 text volumes and 1 atlas volume. 8vo. With 11 numbered lithographed plates (1 folding) showing costumes of the regions, medals and engraved stones, topographic views, archaeological sites, etc., and a large folding engraved map with the routes hand-coloured in red and orange. Contemporary gold-tooled half sheepskin (text volumes), original publisher's letterpress-printed brown paper wrappers (atlas volume). [3], [1 blank] pp. plus plates. Full description

€ 3,500

India & Sri Lanka Iran / Persia Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Middle East Travel & Voyages Southern Asia

The first European to visit Timbuktu

CAILLIÉ, René-Auguste. Dagverhaal eener reize naar Temboektoe, van de westkust af van Afrika, door de binnenlanden, over Jenné, Kabra, Arawan en vele andere opmerkelijke plaatsen, de groote woestijn door, op Tanger... Uit het Fransch overgebragt door Herman van Lil.
Haarlem, widow A. Loosjes, 1831. 2 volumes. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece and an engraved author's portrait by D. and A. Veelvaard, and a large folding map (41.5 x 28.5 cm) after E.F. Jomard. Contemporary half cloth. XVI, 496; [4], 622 [= 582] pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Central Africa North Africa & Egypt Travel & Voyages Africa

On Bedouin tribes, with a map and pictures

CARRUTHERS, Alexander Douglas Mitchell. A journey in North-Western Arabia.
[London, W. Clowes], March 1910. 4to. With 12 black and white photographs made during the journey and a folding chromolithographed map of North-West Arabia (27x30.5 cm). Modern blue wrappers. [32] (numbered 225-248) pp. Full description

€ 750

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Saudi Arabia Travel & Voyages Middle East

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

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Iran / Persia Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Middle East West Asia

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

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Early Printing - 16th century Economic History & Trade North Africa & Egypt Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Middle East Turkey & Ottoman Empire West Asia

1668 Journal of the Dutch Ambassador in the Ottoman Empire, with a letter from the Sultan

COLLIER (COLJER), Justin and Jaques van DAM. Journal du voyage de Mr Collier resident à la Porte. Pour messieurs les Etats Generaux des Provinces Unies.
Paris, Gervais Clouzier, 1672. 12mo. 19th-century(?) half calf, gold-tooled spine. [12], 103, [3] pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Law & Politics Travel & Voyages Middle East Turkey & Ottoman Empire

Cross-cultural navigation: Turkish-inscribed maritime pilot

COLOM, Jacob Aertsz. [Description de la mer méditerranée].
[Amsterdam, ca. 1670]. Folio (29 x 45 cm). With 9 double-page engraved charts only, each sheet ca. 44 × 55 cm, each mounted on stiff paper with maps back-to-back, with thick red and black ink borderlines. 8 of 9 maps are by Colom, numbered 2-9 in the plates from; plate 1 has been replaced with Johannes de Rams map of the Mediterranean: "Paskaart vande Middelandsche Zee In twee deelen vertoont". Contemporary stiff paper wrappers, with a manuscript label pasted upside down on the back wrapper, reading: "Carta Marinaresca del Mar Mediterraneo". Full description