Vienna

Collective edition, partly original, issued without any deluxe copies.

A pleasing copy.

Author's signed presentation inscription from Elias Canetti to his cousin: "Meiner liebsten Kusine Matica, der einziger, die geblieben ist, was  sie immer war, begabt, klug, offen in Liebe und Freundschaft. Elias Canetti. Paris, September 1962" ("A ma chère cousine, la seule qui est reste ce qu'elle a toujours été, douée, intelligente, ouverte, en amour et en amitié)."

First edition of this study in political economy.

Three copies listed in OCLC, all in the United States. BMC records only the second edition (London, 1809).

"Sur quelle base reposent les gouvernements, les lois, les peuples, les autorités, les souverainetés, les partages, les propriétés, les distinctions, les inégalités : voilà le problème important dont on s'occupera dans cet ouvrage."

Some small losses of paper to the spines and corners, rear cover of the first volume soiled, a pleasant, clean interior.

Rare copy preserved in its original grey wrappers.

First edition of Joseph von Hammer's major history of Persian belles-lettres, published in Vienna in 1818 by Heubner und Volke. Large quarto, XII and 432 pages, with an engraved portrait of the author as frontispiece, a plate of music bound between pages 272 and 273, and an index. The work is dedicated to Silvestre de Sacy.

Contemporary half polished tan calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, chain tools and floral ornaments, saffron-coloured boards, marbled edges. Joints split at foot and more slightly at head. A handsome copy with generous margins.

Hammer's...

Very rare first edition, apparently the only early edition recorded, of this important fencing treatise, published in Vienna by Janne Schrämble in 1804. The complete suite of illustrations comprises an engraved portrait frontispiece of the author and 72 plates, including two folding plates: 44 accompany L'Art de faire des armes and 28 the Traité de l'Espadon, making the 73 engraved illustrations called for by the collation.

A wide-margined copy, preserved in its original temporary blue paper wrappers, the spine reinforced. A few small spots of foxing; slight losses at the corners of the plain wrappers; a light...

First edition, printed in a small number, of these four separately published articles by the eminent Austrian Orientalist Baron von Hammer (1774–1856), one of the pioneers of modern scholarship on the Muslim world.

Contemporary blue half sheep, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt fillets, title lettered vertically in gilt, marbled-paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

These four offprints were originally published in volume XII (1854) of the Sitzungsberichte der philos.-histor. Classe der kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften (Proceedings and Transactions of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, Philosophical and Historical Class) and deal chiefly with the...

New edition, illustrated with a full-length portrait frontispiece of Lavater by Stober and 30 plates for volume 1, 30 for the second volume, 30 for the third, 29 for volume 4 and 2 facsimiles of his handwriting; all these plates are contained in an atlas. The four volumes are bound in two volumes. Each plate contains 2 to 12 figures.
Contemporary 3/4 burgundy shagreen binding, spine with false raised bands decorated with gilt and blind fillets, marbled paper boards, all edges marbled.
Bindings skillfully restored. Scattered foxing throughout text.

Rare illustrated reissue of Giovanni Battista Mascolo’s Encomia Coelituum, published jointly in Vienna and Augsburg between 1753 and 1755. First published in Naples in 1638, the text is here expressly reprinted “ob raritatem & elegantiam” and enriched with a remarkable series of 366 engravings, one for each day of the year. Most of the compositions are by Johann Wolfgang Baumgartner, alongside Franz Sigrist and other artists active in Augsburg; the plates were engraved by several burin engravers from this artistic circle.

Autograph letter dated and signed by Romain Rolland, 21 lines in blue ink, written from Villeneuve Schönbrunn.
Folding from postal dispatch, minor foxing.
Romain Rolland requests information necessary to properly draft the requested preface: "J'ai bien reçu les épreuves du volume, et je les ai lues. Il me manque encore les notes, qui me seront le plus nécessaires..."
He provides his Paris address on Boulevard du Montparnasse and informs his correspondent that he will be travelling for a few more days: "Je quitte Schoenbrunn, demain, et je ne saurais donner d'adresse stable, pour une quinzaine de jours." before turning to the Stendhalian task...