Oriental Impressions

First edition of the French translation, one of only 34 numbered copies printed on pure vellum paper, the sole deluxe paper issue.

A fine and rare copy.

Rare first edition of the French translation by Judith Gautier, printed on japon-style paper.
Slight restoration work to spine and a corner of the lower cover, wrappers slightly and marginally soiled as usual.
Illustrated throughout with full-page colour woodcuts by Yamamoto.

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on Holland paper, being the only large paper issue.

Bradel binding with decorative paper featuring red and gold motifs, flat spine, small restorations to spine-ends and joints, brown shagreen title label with a corner skilfully restored, endpapers and pastedowns of blue paper with gilt motifs, soiled soiled covers and spine preserved, gilt top edge on deckle, contemporary binding.

Exceptional and precious presentation copy signed by Claude Farrère: "Pour Max-Anély que j'admire et pour mon ami Segalen. Claude Farrère." [For Max-Anély I admire and for my friend Segalen. Claude Farrère]

Later edition (the first was published three years earlier in 1906).

Bradel binding with marbled paper boards, smooth spine with some parts lacking paper, brown morocco lettering piece with some loss to margis, one joint split, handmade paper endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, contemporary binding.

Exceptional copy signed and inscribed on a mounted stub by Auguste Gilbert de Voisins to his celebrated writer friend and traveling companion on Chinese roads and rivers: "to Victor Segalen in thanks for speaking to me of the Orient. AGilbert de Voisins." 

First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on deluxe paper.

A very slight tear, without loss, to the second panel of the double wrapper.

A pleasing copy preserved in its double wrapper.

First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on pur fil.

An agreeable copy preserved under a double wrapper.

First edition of the French translation, one of 230 numbered copies on alfa paper.
With a preface by Romain Rolland.
A fine copy, the spine very slightly toned.

First edition, one of 45 numbered copies printed on Rajasthan jute paper, the only deluxe issue.

Manuscript signature of Emil Cioran at the colophon.

Spine very slightly faded, of no significance.

Rare and fine copy, complete with the three tantric paintings reproduced hors-texte in colour on cream paper.

Second edition, the first edition having appeared in 1920.

Contemporary half brown sheep, spine with four raised bands decorated with blind fillets, some rubbing to the spine, beige cloth boards, endpapers and pastedowns of handmade paper, original front wrapper preserved.

This manual by the Jesuit Léon Wieger (1856–1933) serves as a practical and useful vade mecum.

Fourth edition reproducing, with only minor variations, the third edition of 1916.

Half tan calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with blind fillets, cherry shagreen lettering piece, slight rubbing to the spine, handmade paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.

This work is fundamental to the graphic and lexicological development of Chinese characters.

It is entirely unjust, as was done for more than fifty years, to minimise the role and contribution of the Jesuit Léon Wieger (1856–1933) to sinology, in which his work was of major importance despite the narrowness of his religious...

First edition of the French translation of an episode from the Ramayana. 

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, under a temporary blue paper cover with minor losses at the corners. 

Some foxing, mainly affecting the endpapers.

The young orientalist Antoine-Léonard Chézy (1773-1832), influenced by Friedrich Schlegel, had begun teaching himself Sanskrit around 1806, studying original texts alongside their English translations.

In the same year, 1814, he was appointed to the very first chair of Sanskrit in Europe, becoming professor of Sanskrit language and literature at the Collège de France.

First edition of this in-folio broadside signed "Phelypeaux", printed on one side only and in two columns.

A scarce and pleasing copy despite traces of central folding.

First edition of the French translation by Edouard Chavannes of an extract from the Journal of the Peking oriental society. 

Contemporary Bradel-style binding in full grey percaline, smooth spine decorated with a gilt fleur-de-lis, double gilt fillet at the foot, cherry shagreen lettering-piece with surface scuffing, partially toned endpapers.

This was the translator’s first scholarly publication devoted to this treatise, which forms the twenty-eighth chapter of the celebrated Shiji (Historical Records) by the first true Chinese historian, Sima Qian (145–86 BCE).

These records constitute the first systematic synthesis of...

Very rare devotional work, for which no bibliographical information could be traced.

Not recorded in Hage Chahine, Blackmer, or Atabey.

Full brown calf binding, spine with four raised bands gilt-ruled and richly gilt-panelled, brown calf lettering-piece, contemporary binding.

Some restorations to the spine and joints, spotting to the edges.

Rare illustrated first edition, with 5 copper-engraved plates hors-texte, including 2 folding plates (cf. Barbier II, 302. Schwab, 517. Hage Chahine, 4320. Wilson, 200. Absent from Blackmer and Atabey.)

Our copy lacks the two dedication leaves to Rouillié, often missing, with repairs to the joints and one corner, and a manuscript ex-libris on the title-page.

Contemporary full mottled fawn calf, spine with five raised bands gilt and decorated with gilt compartments and floral tools, tan calf title-label, gilt fillets to the edges partly faded, speckled edges.

Sanson, a zealous apostolic missionary, tireless traveller and accomplished diplomat, arrived in Persia in...

Each of the disbound parts is in its original edition.

With: "Supplément au Précis justificatif de la société commerciale de la nouvelle Compagnie des Indes. Pour servir de réponse aux inculpations contenues dans le rapport fait à la Convention nationale, le 3 août 1793", printed in Paris by Lottin, also in 1793 (4to, 14 pp.), likewise disbound, printed in two columns, one for the "inculpations" and the other for the "réponses", on bluish paper.

These texts constitute refutations of the allegations levelled against the Compagnie des Indes, founded in France by Colbert in 1664 and whose privilege had been abolished on 3 April 1790.

During the Terror, the...

Rare first edition.

No copy recorded in the CCF.

Some marginal tears and losses to the boards.

In 1838 the “Chinese Museum” opened in Philadelphia on the ground floor of the museum of Charles Willson Peale, based on the objects brought back from China by the Quaker merchant Nathan Dunn (1782–1844), who had returned from a long commercial stay in Canton (1818–1832).

The whole of this collection was also exhibited in London in 1842 and, after Dunn’s death, again in 1851, the latter showing meeting with far less success.

The fate of the objects that composed it remains obscure, but the collection fell victim to its own success and appears to have been both...

First edition of the French translation of this account, originally published under the title: "An Account of the Island of Ceylon" in London in 1803 (cf. Boucher de La Richarderie, V, 135. Brunet, IV, 490 and Quérard, VII, 43 mention an edition published by Dentu, 1804).

Contemporary full mottled calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt compartments and gilt tools, red morocco lettering pieces, green calf volume labels, gilt rolls at the head and tail partly worn, fragile joints, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, bookplates pasted to the pastedowns, gilt fillets on the board edges, speckled edges.

Bindings rubbed, small losses at the foot of the joints...

First edition. 

Contemporary binding in green shagreen, spine slightly faded, with four raised bands gilt with fillets and triple compartments, joints split at the head, green vellum corners, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns in laid paper.

This volume from the Panthéon littéraire series offers a striking example of the 19th-century Western view of the East, notably in its attempt to identify counterparts to “sacred books” for religious and philosophical traditions that—apart from Islam—do not fit such a framework at all. 

The orientalist Jean-Pierre-Guillaume Pauthier (1801–1873) worked across several fields, though he is best known for his translations...

A very rare collection of three anonymous political pamphlets, issued without place or publisher in 1783 and 1784, all in first edition and bound together at the time in one octavo volume:

1. Considérations politiques, par M.***. N.p., 1783, title and 77 pp. Conlon 83:1465.
2. Ces réflexions devoient, avec beaucoup d'autres, faire suite aux Considérations politiques ; mais le tout n'étant pas encore rédigé, les circonstances du moment m'ont déterminé à faire paroître celles-ci sur-le-champ. N.p., n.d. [1783]...

Second edition: the work had in fact already been published in 1741 at Halle under the more concise title Syriasmus.

Contemporary half vellum with vellum corners, the flat spine gilt ruled and decorated with gilt Greek-key rolls and floral tools, bronze sheep lettering-piece, a gilt cross stamped at the centre of the upper cover, sprinkled edges; corners a little rubbed. A binding of the period.

Numbering in blue ink at the head of the front endpaper.

The Lutheran theologian Christian Benedikt Michaelis (1680–1764) specialised in Oriental languages (Arabic, Geʽez, Syriac, etc.), as did many of his contemporaries during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A...

Very rare fully mimeographed first edition of this course prepared for officers of the French Army of the Levant, issued locally under the French Mandate in Syria and Lebanon.

No copy recorded in the CCF. Not in Hage Chahine.

Minor marginal tears to the wrappers, a manuscript ex-libris on the upper wrapper, and a hole in the lower wrapper also affecting the final page but not the text.

The Belgian Jesuit and orientalist Henri Lammens (1862–1937) spent almost his entire life in Beirut; he was the first to apply to the study of the origins of Islam a critical method as rigorous as that used for any historical subject, which earned him much hostility and repeated...

First edition printed on laid paper and illustrated with numerous tables embellished with Chinese ideograms.
Contemporary full brown Russia morocco binding, spine slightly faded, with five raised bands decorated with triple black panels, a few rubs to the spine, gilt initials W. H. W. to the centre of the upper cover, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, triple gilt fillet border to the pastedowns, all edges gilt, double gilt fillets to the turn-ins, corners slightly bumped, unsigned period binding attributable to R. Petit.
Born in Poland, Michel-Alexandre Kleczkowski (1818–1886) served as Consul General of France, Minister Plenipotentiary in China, and Professor...

First edition (see Cordier 92).

Contemporary half brown sheep over brown cloth boards, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt rules, gilt ornamental frieze and gilt name at foot, a few rubs to the spine; marbled endpapers and pastedowns; binding of the period.

Scattered foxing.

Manuscript ex-libris on the half-title: Madame Sinoir, repeated in gilt lettering at the foot of the spine.

A later issue consisting of a reissue of the 1857–58 edition, with cancel titles (see Cordier, Sinica, 770; Caillet, 5294; Numa Broc, Asie, 247–249).

At the end of the volume, volume I is illustrated with a folding hand-coloured map inserted as a plate.

Some foxing, notably to the boards.

A native of Caylus, near Montauban, Évariste Huc (1813–1860) pursued his studies in Toulouse before entering the seminary of the Congregation of Saint Lazarus in 1836.

Ordained a priest in 1839, he left for China as a missionary.

After five years’ residence, he was entrusted with an extensive journey of exploration and evangelisation across the country...

First edition, printed in a limited number, of this extract from the Mémoires de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France, volume XXXIX.

Only two copies recorded in the CCFr (BnF and BULAC). Not listed in Hage Chahine.

This fascicle is illustrated with one in-text figure and two folding plates; our copy is exceptionally enhanced with an additional hand-coloured plan, featuring manuscript annotations in pencil.

Contemporary half-cloth binding in almond percaline, smooth spine with a central gilt ornament and double gilt fillet at the tail, red morocco leather title label, pebbled paper boards, original rear wrapper preserved.

Archaeologist and...

New edition, partly original, revised and corrected, illustrated with 4 engraved plates out of text and an engraved title-page in the first volume.

Contemporary full mottled calf, smooth spines gilt with a repeated floral tool (the decorative motifs partly faded), red morocco lettering-pieces, rubbing to the spines, gilt rolls to the head- and tailcaps, one headcap shaved, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to the board edges, three corners softened, red edges, a few small snags to the board edges, bookplates to the pastedowns, bindings of the period.

The title-page and plates were engraved by Benoît Louis Henriquez after drawings by Jollain. Cohen 440. See Atabey...

First edition of the illustrated French translation, with 2 plates outside the text, one of which folding.

Bindings in contemporary full mottled fawn calf, smooth spines richly gilt with panelled compartments, joints split and restored, some rubbing and small wormholes to the spines, marbled paper endleaves and pastedowns, gilt fillet to the board edges, marbled edges, two rather clumsy restorations to two corners; bindings of the period.

Pleasing internal condition.

This is an abridged translation (but, unusually, explicitly stated as such) of the major work Reise durch Sibirien, published in Göttingen in 1751–1752, comprising 4 quarto volumes and an abundant...

First edition, illustrated with four plates, three of them folding (cf. Cordier, Sinica 442).

Losses to the head and tail of the spine, marginal tears to the covers, a light dampstain to the lower portion of the upper board, one plate torn across the centre without affecting the images, 

Text of the lecture delivered on 13 December 1878 before the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Albert-Auguste Fauvel (1851–1909), a naval officer, accompanied the Duc de Penthièvre on his voyage around the world (1866–1867).

A graduate in Manchu, he had held a post since 1872 within the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service.

A naturalist, he devoted himself...

A small book entirely in Chinese, from the series Chinese Spoken Language Readers for Lower Primary Schools.

Printed stamp of the Missions Museum S.J. Kirche "Am Hof" on the rear cover; a manuscript ink annotation at the head of the final page of text.

Numerous black-and-white illustrations within the text and one full-page colour illustration.

A rare and pleasing copy.

First edition, illustrated with a double-page folding map composed of seventeen plates, together with twelve figures in the text (cf. Hague Chahine 1504.).

Bradel binding in half glazed brown cloth, smooth spine with the date gilt at the foot, red shagreen title-label showing minor surface marks, stone-patterned paper boards, corners lightly rubbed; a contemporary binding.

Some scattered foxing.

Account of an archaeological mission including an extensive study of Safaitic inscriptions, with a glossary and an index of proper names.

First edition (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1643).

Small tear and minor loss at the head of the spine; covers slightly soiled.

A highly interesting trilingual lexicon, presenting Chinese ideograms alongside their phonetic transcription, published in the immediate aftermath of the French expedition of 1858.

It includes, for example, practical phrases such as how to ask "Quelle est la nature de la rade ?" or how to reply that a general is "très brave ; il ne recule devant rien".

Claude-Philibert Dabry de Thiersant (1826–1898) began his career as a naval officer before turning to diplomacy, a path that led him to hold several consular posts in the Far East...

Original edition of one of the three instructional booklets for learning Cantonese published by Cowles, this one intended for the Chinese instructor.

No copy recorded in the CCFr.

A scarce and handsome copy, sewn in the Oriental manner.

Very rare first edition of this Mauritian imprint of a charitable lecture delivered during the war in the island’s second city, by the Solesmes Benedictine Dom Paul Chauvin (1866–1937), preacher and prior of the Parisian Abbey of La Source.

Only one copy recorded in the CCF (Rennes).

Bradel-style binding in half brown glacé morocco, smooth spine, date and place gilt at foot, top edge gilt, sides in handmade paper, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.

At the head of the title page, an autograph inscription by Paul Chauvin to the Duke and Duchess of Bauffremont (the sixth duke, Pierre-Eugène de Bauffremont, 1843–1917...

First edition of this collection of anecdotes and allegories drawn from Turkish, Arabic and Persian manuscripts held at the Royal Library (cf. Quérard, II, 50. Brunet, 19466. Cioranescu, 15566. Graesse, p. 46. Goedeke, 651.)

Contemporary half calf with corners, the flat spine gilt with decorative garlands, the spine rubbed and crazed, cherry-coloured calf lettering-piece, green paper-covered boards, yellow edges, small nicks to the extremities.

Denis-Dominique Cardonne (1721-1783) lived in Constantinople for twenty years, from 1730 to 1750, where he learned Turkish, Arabic and Persian.

On his return to France he was appointed the King’s secretary-interpreter for...

First edition printed in a small number of copies of this offprint from the Journal asiatique.

Unlettered spine with restorations; scattered foxing.

Abel Bergaigne (1838–1888), one of the leading Indologists of his time, was Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Linguistics at the Sorbonne.

His interpretation of the Rig-Veda remains authoritative.

On the upper wrapper of the first cover, a signed autograph inscription by Abel Bergaigne to the academic and statesman Charles Lenient (1826–1908).

First collective edition (cf. Cordier, Indosinica IV, 2297).

Light creasing to the foot of the upper cover; a few spots of foxing.

This volume unites in a single work the Grammar of the Annamite language, published in 1864, together with the Vocabulary, first issued in 1861.

A naval officer and Orientalist, Commander Gabriel Aubaret (1825–1894) was appointed the first French Consul in Bangkok in 1863; his true mission, however, was to negotiate with the Imperial Court at Hué for the cession to France of the provinces of Cochinchina. On 21 June 1864 Aubaret signed at Hué a new treaty on the terms desired by the court of Annam.

The three eastern provinces were...

First separate illustrated edition, with a large folding map printed on a separate sheet and hand-coloured in outline bound at the end of the volume.

This geographical study is in fact an extract from Volume II of the first French translation by Stanislas Julien of the Da Tang Xiyu Ji (Record of the Western Regions of the Great Tang), the literary account of Xuanzang's nineteen-year journey (626–645, during the Tang dynasty), from Chang'an across Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent.

The two-volume work had previously been published by the Imprimerie impériale in 1857 and 1858.

Spine split, restored with minor losses, some foxing.

First edition, illustrated with a folding plate printed outside the text, of these essays by « M. L. C. D. M. D. L. D. G. D. C. D. M. L. C. D’A [i.e. Monsieur le chevalier Duvernois, maréchal des logis of the guards of the comte d’Artois] ».

Cf. Quérard, Supercheries littéraires, II, 700. Blackmer 1725. Hage Chahine 4990. Atabey 1280.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, under plain grey covers, the spine unlettered and bearing traces of manuscript inscription.

Light marginal dampstaining affecting several leaves.

Verdy du Vernois (1738-1814) later became chamberlain to the King of Prussia and the author of several works on the military art, history, and...

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with 1 folding table inserted in the second volume (cf. Cordier 547.)

Contemporary full mottled tawny calf bindings, smooth spines richly gilt with ornamental rolls and fleurons, green morocco lettering and volume labels, gilt rolls to the spine ends partially rubbed, covers framed with gilt fillets and dotted rules, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets on board edges, marbled edges, period bindings.

Some restorations to the joints and spines, a few rubs to the covers.

An important work for the legal history of China.

Volume I contains the preface, and the general, civil, fiscal, ritual and military laws; Volume II...

First edition (cf. Atabey 1128. Weber 59. Not in Blackmer.)

Half brown sheep binding with small green vellum corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt friezes and amphoras, red Russia morocco title label, hazel-coloured boards, ex-libris pasted to a pastedown; contemporary binding.

Spine restored, a few minor foxing spots.

"This is an important collection of letters written to the antiquary the Comte de Caylus, beginning as early as 1729 and including the period up to 1778. The collection includes the letters of the Abbé Sevin and others, including Anquetil Duperron and Le Roy, but it is especially significant for Peyssonnel's letters to Caylus. It was edited by...

First edition issued as offprint no. 13 for the year 1849 from the "Journal Asiatique".

Not recorded by Lorenz.

Our copy is preserved in the original plain blue wrappers, title pencilled on the upper cover.

Some foxing.

First edition, first printing (with the table in X7 and without the errata leaf, which only appears in the second printing copies).

Cf. Blackmer 863. Atabey 607.

Manuscript ex-libris at the head of an endpaper, a few minor foxing spots.

Contemporary half tan calf binding, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, brick-red morocco title label, marbled paper boards, lemon edges speckled with blue.

Spine slightly rubbed and stained, minor loss to the upper joint.

The work reflects the observations and notes from a journey undertaken in 1790–1791.

A few years later, the Comte de Salaberry (1766–1847) would become, contrary to the Philhellene...

Rare first edition of d'Alègre’s French translation (cf. Brunet V, 25. Barbier II, 596.)

Contemporary full marbled calf, spine in five raised bands richly gilt in compartments with floral tools, red shagreen lettering-piece, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to board edges now almost rubbed away, red-speckled edges, contemporary binding.

Restorations to spine and joints, marginal dampstain at the foot of about ten leaves, annotations and a pen drawing on a flyleaf.

This is the second translation of this masterpiece by the Persian poet and philosopher Saadi, one of the great Sufi masters of the thirteenth century.

The first, by André Du Ryer, dates from 1634.

It...

First edition.

Only three copies recorded in the CCFr.

Spine restored with some losses remaining, sun-faded boards, scattered foxing.

The sole edition: despite his surname, Dr Roberts appears to have been French, and it was at the request of the French Minister of Public Instruction that he undertook this journey through Central Asia, of which India formed but one stage.

Second edition, partly original as enlarged, illustrated with a lithographed frontispiece and two lithographed plates printed hors-texte.

Bradel binding in full paper boards covered with red shell-patterned paper, smooth spine, red shagreen title label, restored wrappers preserved and mounted on guards, modern binding.

This memoir, published by order of the Royal Academic Society of Savoy, of which the Comte de Boigne was president, notably recounts his travels in India.

Benoît Leborgne, Comte de Boigne, served in India and received from Prince Sindiah the supreme command of his troops, to whom he imparted European discipline and manoeuvres.

With them he won...

First edition (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1557.)

Contemporary half black shagreen, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt fillets and gilt floral ornaments, slight rubbing to the spine ends, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, bumped corners, speckled edges.

The sole edition of this survey, which in fact constitutes the French adaptation, by a librarian of Sainte-Geneviève, of three highly detailed articles written by the English diplomat Thomas Francis Wade (1818-1895), then attached to the secretariat of Lord Elgin. 

Their contents were brought together in The Chinese Army : Containing Notices of Its Bannermen, Hánkiun, and Luhying Divisions: With Details...

First trade edition, partly original in its enlarged form.

A portion of the work had first appeared in 1832 in the Revue Encyclédique (May-June), and had been issued separately in a first offprint of 23 pages (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1399-1340.)

Wrappers backed and restored, manuscript bookplate in the upper left corner of the title-page, a pleasing copy internally.

This is the Da Xue, the first of the Four Confucian Classics, first incorporated into the Li Ji (Book of Rites), then regarded from the Neo-Confucian revival of the Song period onward as a mirror for the Prince and likewise a mirror for subjects, centered on good government.

The Chinese characters were...

First edition (cf. Conlon 16:162; not listed by Barbier).

Later half marbled calf binding, spine with five raised bands ruled and decorated in gilt, marbled paper boards, speckled edges.

Restoration to the left-hand margin of the title-page, black ink stains in the margins of pages 4 and 5 and on the final flyleaf, with a few small spots of foxing.

Despite the anonymous author's prefatory remarks, the work appears to be a fashionable abridgement of Pétis de La Croix's book.

New edition of the French translation, this one by Abbé Pluquet (see Cordier, Sinica 1395-1396).

Contemporary half tan calf bindings over corners, smooth spines decorated with double gilt fillets, black calf title-pieces, some rubbing to spines and headcaps, marbled paper boards with some surface wear, a few corners slightly bumped, speckled edges, period bindings.

This French translation of Father François Noël’s Latin work includes the Observations on the moral and political philosophy of the Chinese legislators, The Great Learning, or the Science of Adults, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Book of Sentences, Meng Tsee or The Book of Mencius, Hiao-king, or The Book of Filial...

First edition (cf. Saba Jc 3. Not in Schwab, who cites another work by this author).

Full contemporary flexible brown sheepskin binding, smooth and unlettered spine slightly darkened, cold-stamped fillets framing the boards, original covers preserved, period Oriental binding.

Spine restored.

After serving as secretary-interpreter to the Shah of Persia, J.B. Nicolas became dragoman chancellor, managing the French general consulate in Baghdad. He was a commander of the Order of the Lion and the Sun of Persia, a knight of several orders, and a member of the Institut Historique de France.

Contemporary manuscript copy of the important unpublished memoir written in Tonkin in 1841 by the Spanish Dominican Domingo Martí (1811–1852), devoted to the lives and martyrdom of twenty-seven Servants of God who died between 1838 and 1840 during the anti-Christian persecutions carried out under the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng.

Small quarto (15 × 19.8 cm). 6 unnumbered leaves, 2 blank leaves, 117 numbered leaves with a few pagination errors...

Very rare first edition illustrated with a folding map bound at the beginning of the volume and 44 plates.

No copy recorded by the CCFr.

Publisher's original full indigo-blue cloth, smooth spine decorated in gilt with dotted tooling and floral ornaments, covers framed with a blind rule, corners lightly bumped.

An amateur repair with adhesive tape to the upper right corner of the first text leaf, a few spots of foxing, chiefly affecting the edges.

The author served as secretary to the very first Brazilian mission sent to China (1880).

First edition illustrated with 3 plates (Cf. Rodrigues 1357; Borba de Moraes I, 381; see INED 2496 for the 1774 edition).

Modern binding in brown mottled half calf, spine with four raised bands, gilt rules at head and foot, gilt initials at foot, red calf lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, sprinkled edges.

Stamp of a religious institution on the title page; old bookseller’s label pasted to the facing page.

The Coromandel Coast, European trading settlements, military strongholds, Indian religion, medicine, anatomy, the caste system, Indian manners, clothing, dwellings, gardens, food (and temperance), marriage rites, funerary customs, morality, fauna, flora...

First editions of each of the pamphlets.

Contemporary full speckled calf binding, smooth spine richly gilt in the grotesque style, beige calf lettering piece, patterned paper endpapers and pastedowns, worn corners, red edges, period binding.

Some rubbing to the spine.

Founded in December 1722 by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, the Imperial Company of Commerce and Navigation established Ostend, in the Austrian Netherlands (roughly present-day Belgium), as its home port and warehouse. However, neighbouring powers, in particular the two Dutch East India Companies and the English East India Company, strongly opposed this new enterprise, which threatened their commercial...

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a hand-coloured frontispiece depicting a Mahratta soldier and his wife (cf. Brunet, V, 883).

Contemporary Bradel binding in red paper-covered boards, title gilt to spine, some rubbing to spine, bookplate pasted to one pastedown, corners bumped.

Some foxing; the half-title was not bound into this copy.

A former colonel in a Mahratta infantry regiment, the author published his account in the form of letters addressed to an officer in the British Army.

The first English edition appeared in Bombay in 1798 under the title A Letter to an Officer on the Madras Establishment, before being translated...

First edition of the French translation of the story of Nala and Damayanti, from the Aranyakaparvan, or Book of the Forest, the third of the eighteen books of the great Indian epic.

Spine restored and reattached, a few spots of foxing.

 Emile-Louis Burnouf (1821-1907), first cousin of Eugène Burnouf, was likewise a Sanskrit scholar and Indologist.

First edition illustrated with 24 colour figures mounted within the text.

No copy recorded in the CCFr.

Occasional light foxing.

Publisher’s original full lemon-yellow percaline, smooth spine, upper cover decorated in red, minor spotting to the boards.

Pleasing album devoted to the monuments of ancient China, then undergoing rapid transformation at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The text was set before the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and the Great War.

On the half-title, this copy is enriched with a long dated autograph inscription by the American singer and society figure Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller (1876–1952) to Henry de Galard de...

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...

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with 105 full-page plates (including 2 folding tables, 21 maps and plans, and 82 views and facsimiles of documents).

Remarkable account of one of the most significant international opinion manipulations by China and North Korea at the onset of the Korean War: as early as 1952, North Korean and Chinese officials (including Zhou Enlai) claimed that the U.S. Army was deploying "insect vectors" on a large scale to spread diseases such as plague and cholera among the populations of Korea and Manchuria.

As later confirmed by Soviet documents published in 1998, the entire operation had been meticulously staged.

Spine with...

A rare first edition.

This scholarly periodical was issued continuously over eight years, from 1870 to 1877.

Angular losses to the lower wrapper.

Joseph Héliodore Garcin de Tassy (1794-1878) was an orientalist and a specialist of French India. He studied Oriental languages under Silvestre de Sacy and, alongside him, was one of the founders of the Société asiatique in 1822.

He was appointed to the chair of Indology at the École spéciale des Langues orientales in 1828 and was elected to the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres in 1838.

Initially known for his studies on Islam and for his translations from Arabic, Turkish and Persian, Garcin de Tassy...

First edition.

Two small losses at the foot of the spine and on the front cover, the final gathering was improperly trimmed, resulting in a few minor marginal losses without serious consequence.

Joseph-Hélodore Garcin de Tassy (1794-1878) was a French orientalist and specialist of India.

He studied Oriental languages under Silvestre de Sacy and, together with him, was one of the founders of the Société Asiatique in 1822. He was appointed to the Chair of Indology at the École spéciale des Langues orientales in 1828 and was elected to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1838. Initially renowned for his studies of Islam and his translations from Arabic...

First edition of these extremely rare statutes of an Indo-British lodge established in Calcutta since 1860.

No copy recorded in the CCF or in WorldCat.

Minor losses to the spine and corners of the boards, with one tear at the head of the upper cover skilfully restored.

Extremely rare first edition of the statutes of an Indo-British military lodge established in Calcutta.

Losses to the rubbed spine, covers reinforced, internally in pleasing condition.

No copy recorded in the CCFr or on WorldCat.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, issued as an offprint from the Bibliothèque de vulgarisation du Musée Guimet, vol. XXXVI. 

Essentially a concise introduction to the Daodejing (Tao te King in EFEO transcription).

Spine rebacked, with losses; corner losses to the wrappers, which are tending to detach; internally in pleasing condition.

Rare, but sold as is.

First edition of the exceedingly rare French translation, illustrated with 5 folding maps hors-texte (cf. Atabey 255. Not in Blackmer).

Contemporary half blond sheep bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets, a few rubs to the spines, marbled paper boards, engraved bookplates pasted onto the endpapers and pastedowns, yellow edges, contemporary bindings.

Some foxing, date erased from the title page of the first volume.

Quérard III, 216: "Le gouvernement ne permit pas la mise en vente de cette traduction ; il n'y en a eu que quelques exemplaires de répandus".

Provenance: notably from the library of H. Tronchin, with his engraved bookplates pasted onto the...

First edition illustrated with 9 copper-engraved plates hors texte after drawings by Hippolyte Jordan and Baron Charles-Louis de Coubertin (1822-1908, father of Pierre de Coubertin), including one double-page map and one folding plate.

Frédy de Blackmer 177 (calling for 17 plates).

Contemporary half cherry-red shagreen over marbled boards, spine with five raised bands showing a few rubs and darkened at the foot, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, शीर्ष edge gilt, corners lightly bumped.

A light dampstain to the edges without affecting the text, joints restored at head and foot.

The sole edition, printed in an edition of 500 copies and uncommon, of this account...

First French edition, illustrated with a lithographed frontispiece and 11 lithographed plates (bound between pp. 360–361), cf. Brunet, I, 787; Chadenat, 5323.

Full calf binding, smooth spine with gilt decorative motifs, gilt roll on the headbands, red morocco title label, gilt roll borders on the boards, handmade paper endpapers and pastedowns, gilt edges on the board edges, red page edges, contemporary binding.

Restorations to the spine, one restoration at the foot of the title page.

An epistolary account of a journey undertaken in 1802 among the Kalmyks, a nomadic people of the Astrakhan province (North Caucasus).

Rare first edition.

Only copy recorded in the CCFr (BnF).

Losses at the head and foot of the spine, small marginal tears to the covers and half-title, occasional foxing.

The author is presented as a serving Catholic statesman wishing to remain anonymous. With an introduction by the publicist Armand Ravelet (1834-1875).

Despite its very broad title, the pamphlet chiefly concerns the highly contentious relations between Gregorian Armenians and Catholic Armenians, as well as the respective positions of the Porte and the Papacy regarding these two communities.

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a plate showing the alphabet and a large folding map at the end of the first volume (cf. Quérard V, 561). Two modern bookplates pasted to the front pastedowns. 

Contemporary full marbled tan calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt friezes (partly rubbed), blond morocco lettering-piece, lower headcap slightly damaged, some wear to joints and boards, old restorations on boards, a few bumped corners, gilt rolls on board edges, red edges.

Small ink stain and marginal tear on the map, otherwise a clean and appealing copy.

The most comprehensive work of its time devoted to the largest island of...

Generally regarded as the most complete early edition of Chardin’s Travels, this imposing publication in ten volumes with a separate atlas was prepared in 1811 by Louis-Mathieu Langlès. The orientalist added a historical survey of Persia from the earliest times and an extensive critical apparatus, confronting Chardin’s text with the historical, geographical and philological scholarship of his own day. It remained the standard edition until Philip Stewart’s complete modernised and annotated text appeared in 2018.

The ten text volumes are bound in contemporary full tree calf, smooth spines richly decorated...

A rare run of approximately 250 issues of the Levant Times and Shipping Gazette, the bilingual maritime newspaper published in Constantinople, covering almost a complete year from 1 July 1869 to 3 June 1870. At the centre of this period stands the opening of the Suez Canal on 17 November 1869, an event that transformed the geography of trade between the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. The present collection records the anticipation, announcement and immediate aftermath of that moment from one of the principal ports of the Ottoman Empire.

Two large folio volumes (31 × 48 cm), bound Bradel-style in half black cloth over beige boards, smooth...

First edition, one of 25 numbered copies on bouffant vellum paper from the Salzer mills, ours being No. 1, the only deluxe paper issue.
Handsome copy of this work awarded the Grand Prix du Roman of the Académie française.