Seas and Oceans

First edition of this new Histoire générale des voyages, arranged and brought up to date with contemporary discoveries by Baron Charles-Athanase Walckenaer (1771-1852). Published in Paris between 1826 and 1831 in twenty-one octavo volumes, it constitutes the only portion ever completed of a project originally intended to extend to some sixty volumes. The final four volumes were prepared by Jean-Baptiste-Benoît Eyriès. Brunet V, 1041; Quérard X, 472; Gay 299; Hoefer XLVI, 498.

Contemporary half red Russia morocco with corners, spines with five raised bands, boards framed with blind fillets, marbled...

Uncommon first edition (cf. O'Reilly & Reitman, 6271: "Travail consciencieux, bien documenté et toujours utile"; Numa Broc, Océanie, pp. 377-380).

Our copy retains the two folding maps bound at the end of the first volume.

The two maps are titled: Carte de l'île Taïti d'après Vilson et les travaux récens de la frégate l'Artémise; Carte de l'archipel Taïti d'après les travaux les plus récens [et] des archipels français dans l'Océanie par Mr Vincendon-Dumoulin, 1844.

Contemporary half bottle-green sheep, spine with five raised bands gilt with scrolling tools and floral ornaments, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, spines slightly...

First edition, illustrated with a folding plate bound at the end of the volume (cf. Quérard IX, 259).

Contemporary full boards covered with marbled paper, smooth spine heavily rubbed, a label with a now-effaced manuscript title affixed at the head of the spine, surface abrasions with paper losses to the boards, snags to the edges, bumped corners, sprinkled edges; a period binding.

Following general remarks on the designation, status, quality, and responsibilities of consuls, the work presents the texts of ordinances, treaties, and conventions relating to the Levant and Barbary trading posts (1781), prizes brought into foreign ports (1784), navigation and commerce between...

Illustrated edition, with 6 plates bound at the end of the volume.

Our copy is preserved in its original plain wrappers.

Spine with tears and losses.

From the "Description des Arts et Métiers" published by the Académie des Sciences.

Rare whaling share certificate issued by the Lamotte & Cie shipowners of Le Havre.

Lithographed sheet on pink paper with manuscript additions, presented in a modern glazed frame (with a small chip to the upper right corner of the frame) and set within a mat.

The document is mounted on a guard, tipped in at the head to the mat.

This is a half-share certificate valued at two thousand five hundred francs, relating to the vessel Hâvre, issued in the name of Mr Levis de Pontaudemer and bearing the number 25.

Dated at Le Havre, 10 September 1834.

A very rare and attractive document.

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...

Unpublished manuscript logbook kept by a French naval officer, an eyewitness to the celebrated action between the Aréthuse and HMS Amelia (1813), and to the campaigns that accompanied the restoration of French authority in the West Indies.

Unpublished autograph manuscript of 189 pages (the first 31 paginated, the remainder unnumbered), kept by an anonymous French naval officer and covering, without interruption, the period from 25 November 1812 to 4 May 1823.

Contemporary half tan calf, smooth spine decorated with repeated gilt rolls and naval ornaments, burgundy calf lettering-piece, brown paper-covered boards. Spine...

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 and only edition, illustrated with a folding engraved frontispiece (see Polak 6795; not in Sabin).

Bound in bottle-green full sheep, Bradel-style binding, smooth spine ruled in gilt with double fillets, gilt date at foot, original pink paper waiting cover preserved, modern binding.

A waterstain affects the lower margin of the initial leaves, gradually fading throughout the volume.

Unique and uncommon edition (the purported 1814 edition is a bibliographical ghost).

First edition of the Voyage pittoresque à l'Île-de-France, au Cap de Bonne-Espérance et à l'Île de Ténériffe, published in Paris by Auguste Nepveu in 1812 and printed by Le Normant. Two octavo text volumes with an accompanying atlas. The second text volume contains three folding tables; the atlas in the present copy comprises 45 engraved plates, both single-page and folding, including three maps and 42 plans and picturesque views, most retaining their tissue guards. 

Some foxing in the text volumes and atlas.

The text volumes in slightly later...

New edition, illustrated with 111 drawings by Neuville and Riou. 7 plates, some in color.
Publisher's gilt Globe binding, upper cover signed Blancheland, Engel relieur, spine with lighthouse motif, rear cover of Engel H type, publisher's Y catalogue at rear of volume.
Spine with minor discoloration, a few small stains to upper corner of front cover, endpapers discolored, corners slightly twisted, the engraving between pages 122-123 with small corner lacks, occasional light foxing mainly to edges.
Undoubtedly the most famous of Jules Verne's novels, featuring the mythical figure of Captain Nemo and his legendary submarine, the Nautilus.

First and only edition. This copy is one of the rare examples complete with the 64 full-page plates. The work is also illustrated with a title vignette depicting the artist Ambroise-Louis Garneray in a small boat, sketching the entrance to the port of Brest.

Contemporary binding of half tan sheep with corners, smooth spine richly decorated in gilt and blind with multiple large typographic tools, discreet restorations to the joints, marbled-paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

A magnificent work on the ports of France, and one of the finest collections ever...

Il était né à Bois Colombe
Mais ne rêvait que d'océan
Et l'appel des sirènes blondes
Lui travaillait déjà le sang
Un soir en sortant de...

First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on vélin du Marais, the only issue after 30 copies on Arches.

Custom chemise and slipcase, chemise in half blue box calf, flat spine with blind and palladium-stamped lettering, date in palladium at foot, patterned paper boards, slipcase edged in blue box calf, patterned paper boards, sides and spine in petrol blue paper, signed by Boichot.
A very fine copy.
Illustrated with 3 original etchings in black by Georges Braque and one in black and grey as frontispiece.
Signed by René Char and Georges Braque on the colophon, with an exceptionally added original artist's proof signed in pencil on...

First edition.
Publisher's full black cloth binding, smooth spine, handsome condition complete with illustrated dust jacket.
Rich iconography.
Text by Manthia Diawara.
Signed autograph inscription from David Rosenthal to a man named Jean.

First edition of the French translation. First published in English in 1712 under the title A cruising voyage round the world. Illustrated with 2 engraved titles, 14 engraved plates and 7 maps including 2 large format (Paraguay and Chile - mainland Peru and Brazil and the Land of the Amazons) and a world map.
Bound in full brown sprinkled calf, spine elaborately gilt, gilt roulettes on the edges, all red speckled edges. Expertly restored (corners, upper and lower part of joints). Two small restored tears on the world map, not affecting the image.
Ex-libris in ink "Sr Remy" to the upper left margin of the title-page.
A tear to the world map, not affecting the...

First edition, with 18 engraved maps et 5 folding engraved plates.
Contemporary tan calf, skillfully restored tear to the first folding map, some marginal restorations to the map “Troisième division - Archipel des navigateurs”. Falkland Islands map expertly rebacked on the outer margin as well as the Magellan Strait map. Map of the Buton Strait with a small marginal tear and a second restored with a strip of paper.
Bougainville undertook the first official French circumnavigation and scientific expedition. Starting from Nantes in November 1766, he sailed to the Falklands, made a stopover in Buenos Aires and then crossed the Magellan Strait and the...

Un bateau
Et de l'eau
Et du vent pour gonfler la grand'voile
Une amie
Près de moi
Sur les mers de saphir tout là-bas