"Because in the end, you won't remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain." (attributed to Jack Kerouac)
First edition, one of 1,045 and one of 1,246 numbered copies on deluxe paper, the only large-paper issues after the 118 and 120 reimposed copies.
A pleasing set.
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 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 the French translation prepared by J. de Rey-Pailhade and Henry-Joseph Sauvaire, issued in a small printing as an offprint from the Journal asiatique.
A few small spots of foxing; a pleasing and uncommon copy.
Half green cloth, smooth spine with red morocco title-label, ‘œil-de-chat’ patterned paper over boards, sprinkled edges.
Illustrated with two double-page plates outside the text.
Born in Marseille, Henri Sauvaire (1831–1896) began his career in the consular service before turning to Near-Eastern archaeology.
On the half-title, a presentation inscription in the hand of Henri-Joseph Sauvaire to the archaeologist...
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...
New edition.
Publisher’s full red percaline binding, smooth spine ruled in blind, title and imprint stamped in gilt on the upper cover, speckled edges.
A slightly shaken copy, with some rubbing to the covers.
The first edition appeared in 1843, and the collection was again issued in 1910.
Théodore Roland de Bussy (1810–1873) pursued an administrative career in the colony, rising to the post of conseiller de préfecture, and was highly active in the field of language studies, publishing some ten bilingual lexicons, including the celebrated Idiome d'Alger (1838), likewise reissued on numerous occasions. See Gaudin (François); Mahtout (Mahfoud): Histoire culturelle et...
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint.
Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Sorbonne, Campus Condorcet).
Included in the collection of studies relating to Egyptian and Assyrian philology and archaeology. Offprint from the Muséon. Louvain, Charles Peeters, 1883. Spine and covers marginally faded, with small tears and slight marginal losses, one snag with loss to the centre of the lower cover.
Félix-Marie-Louis-Jean Robiou de La Tréhonnais (1818-1894) was deputy professor at the Faculties of Letters of Strasbourg and Nancy, and Professor of Greek Literature at the Faculty of Rennes.
Edition issued after William Robertson’s History of America (cf. Sabin 38363, which records a work comprising the history of these three explorers under a collective title, printed in 1781).
Bound at the end is: "Kurzgefasste Geschichte des Ferdinand Cortez, Eroberers von Mexico und Franz von Pizarro ersten Entdeckers und Eroberers von Peru", published in Frankfurt by Eichenberg in 1781.
Contemporary early twentieth-century half red shagreen, spine in five raised bands ruled in gilt, minor rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Some light scattered foxing.
The preface to the work on Cortez notes that publication was...
First edition illustrated with 8 lithographed plates printed outside the text and protected by tissue guards.
Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and ENC).
The sole edition, uncommon: in fact a miscellany assembled by Fanny Claudet (Madame Prosper Richomme), bringing together "orientalist" texts that had already become classics on this part of the Middle East (Chateaubriand, Lamartine, Poujoulat, Michaud, Francis Wey, etc.).
First edition (see Playfair 583a. Not recorded by Tailliart.)
Half black morocco binding, spine with five raised bands, sides of marbled paper, original front cover preserved, endpapers and pastedowns of comb-marbled paper; modern binding.
Loss skilfully filled at the lower right corner of the original front cover and at the upper right corners of the final two leaves.
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...
Second edition comprising the reissue of the first two volumes of the Bulletin, no less scarce than the copies of the first edition, and corresponding to the opening phase of Bourbon’s legislative and regulatory activity, a veritable mine of information not only on legal matters but on every aspect of the island’s daily life (cf. Ryckebusch, 1224).
Contemporary Bradel bindings in half fawn marbled sheepskin, smooth spines ruled in gilt with double fillets, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, yellow edges, three corners lightly rubbed.
The third and final volume lacking, occasional foxing, two black stains to the lower cover of the first volume.
Very rare first edition, illustrated with two frontispieces, eighteen plates, and a folding map table bound at the end of the second volume.
Scattered foxing.
Half black shagreen bindings, smooth spines tooled in blind with fillets and small ornaments, gilt lettering at the foot of the spines showing some rubbing, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, light rubbing to the extremities, sprinkled edges, contemporary bindings.
Born at Versailles in 1809, Anne Jean-Baptiste Raffenel entered the Naval administration in 1825.
After several voyages, notably to Africa, the West Indies and the United States, he was posted to Senegal and from 1843...
First edition (cf. Sabin, 64,876).
Spine cracked with small losses; slight marginal tears and losses to the wrappers.
The subject of this dissertation does not, of course, concern the State of the same name (a member of the Confederacy during the Civil War), but the vessel, the CSS Alabama, a sloop of war with combined steam and sail propulsion, built in Great Britain in 1862. It served in the Confederate States Navy until it was sunk on 19 June 1864 following a naval engagement with the Union sloop of war USS Kearsarge off the port of Cherbourg, France.
In the aftermath of the war arose the Alabama Claims, demands for damages brought by the Federal Government of the...
First edition, illustrated with a folding map at the end of the volume (see Fumagalli 730, and Gay, 2674bis (collation of the first two parts only: 292 pp.).
The third part of this history of the "Ethiopia of the Ancients" is devoted to Christianity, the religion most widely practised in Abyssinia.
Occasional light foxing, chiefly affecting the folding map.
Half blue shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands gilt with dotted tooling and decorated with double gilt panels, slight rubbing to the spine, dark navy percaline boards framed with blind fillets, a small loss of percaline at the foot of the upper board, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled...
First edition of this important first-hand account of the deportation and enforced stay in French Guiana of the counter-revolutionary journalist and songwriter Louis-Ange Pitou (1767–1846), placed under “preventive” arrest after the Directory’s coup d’état of 18 Fructidor, Year V [4 September 1797], sentenced to transportation, and released from exile only after 18 Brumaire (cf. Fierro, 1170. Sabin 63057. Leclerc 3445.)
The work is illustrated with two folding engraved frontispieces: La détention des déportés sur la frégate La Décade and Le désert de Konanama dans la Guyane.
Contemporary bindings in fawn calf, half-bound with small vellum corners, smooth...
First edition of the French translation (cf. Gay 3146).
Our copy is preserved in the original wrappers, with yellow and black marbled covers and a title label pasted at the head of the spine.
Occasional light foxing; a numbering in black ink facing the half-title.
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...
New edition of the French translation of this work, originally published in 1731 in two quarto volumes (see Brunet IV, 456).
This edition is illustrated with 8 folding plates, comprising 3 maps and 5 views.
Contemporary full marbled tan calf bindings, smooth spines richly decorated with gilt floral panels, bronze calf lettering- and volume-pieces, small wormholes to the spines, gilt rolls to the caps, single blind fillet framing the boards, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the board edges, red edges, bindings of the period.
Repairs to the joints, a few occasional spots of foxing.
The translator of this French version, written "en un style aisé, clair, même...
Extremely rare first edition, illustrated with two plates and issued as a separate offprint from the Phytographia Canariensis of the Histoire naturelle des Îles Canaries by Barker-Webb and Sabin Berthelot.
The plates, lithographed by J. Rigaud et Cie, were drawn by Alfred Riocreux, the gifted botanical artist and pupil of Redouté, responsible, among other works, for Choix de plantes de la Nouvelle-Zélande (1846).
Some foxing.
Contemporary binding in red half-morocco with corners, smooth spine ruled in gilt at head and foot, long-grained title, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Not recorded by Nissen.
The Vicomte de...
First edition of the French translation (cf. Chadenat, 494; Brunet I, 24.)
Contemporary half green sheep, smooth spines faded and decorated with double gilt fillets, marbled paper sides with minor rubbing, marbled endpapers, two small tears at the joints, contemporary bindings.
Light waterstain to the upper right corner of a number of leaves in the second volume.
An Indian traveller, Mirza Abu Taleb Khan was born in 1752 at Lucknow in Hindustan and died in Calcutta in 1806.
After serving in the army of the Nawab of Oudh, he embarked for Europe on 16 February 1799 with his friend Captain David Richardson.
Following a three-month stay at the Cape, he landed at...
Extremely rare collection of three works, in original anonymous editions, devoted to the Eastern Question and the policy France should adopt to counter Russian ambitions in the Ottoman Empire.
The author is believed to be one Mignonneau, a former war commissioner.
Bound in full mottled calf, smooth spine richly decorated with gilt crossbands, brown calf title label, rubbing to joints and spine, gilt roll partially faded on head and tail, triple gilt fillet framing boards, handmade paper endpapers and pastedowns, gilt turn-ins, corners slightly worn, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.
Minor angular losses to boards, light dampstaining to lower margin of leaves in...
First edition, printed in a small number, of this scarce offprint from the Revue archéologique, illustrated with 11 figures in the text and 3 folding plates.
Only two copies recorded in the CCF (Quai d'Orsay and Strasbourg).
The architect of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829-1914), had been entrusted with several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonica, Smyrna, Alexandria), before being appointed by the French government to Jerusalem (1862-1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne.
He also developed a keen interest in ancient metrology, on which he published several monographs.
A pleasing copy.
Autograph...
First edition.
Small losses to the head and tail of the spine, tears to one joint and to the spine neatly restored, a stain at the foot of the upper cover, slight corner losses to the boards; a clean and attractive copy internally.
At the head of the upper cover, an autograph presentation inscription by Édouard Maurel to a colleague.
Very rare first edition illustrated with one map and one colour plate.
Not recorded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Cordier, or Lorentz.
Half midnight-blue shagreen, smooth spine decorated with quadruple gilt fillets, one joint very fragile, upper headcap worn down, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Some foxing.
First edition of this uncommon work, printed at Saint-Denis, Réunion, and illustrated by the local photographer E. Vidal, expanding upon a brief notice published as early as 1899 (cf. Ryckebusch II, 5358.)
Illustrated with a frontispiece map and 20 photographic plates hors-texte.
With a preface by M. Garsault.
Spine lacking, wrappers in poor condition, light waterstaining.
Scarce, offered in its present condition.
Born in Rennes, the military physician Jean-Marie Mac-Auliffe (1837-1908) was stationed in Réunion in 1864, and again from 1874 until his death, notably as physician to the thermal baths of Cilaos. In this remote locality he developed considerable...
Second edition of the french translation.
Some light foxing.
Contemporary full mottled calf bindings, smooth spines richly gilt with typographical ornaments, slight rubbing to the joints, red morocco title and volume labels, gilt rolls to the headcaps, sides framed with a gilt floral dentelle, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dotted edges, marbled edges.
Gay 368 : "On y trouve l'extrait du voyage de Picard qui se rendit à Fouta Tora ; cette relation ne se rencontre pas ailleurs".
Second edition, in large part original as it is substantially enlarged (Tulard, 876, for the editions of 1814 and 1818).
Our copy remains sewn in the original plain temporary wrappers.
Backstrips slightly split, a few scattered spots of foxing.
The first volume is illustrated with 4 plates outside the text (including a frontispiece and a folding plan), together with 5 folding tables; the second with 2 engraved plates, one folding table, and, at the end of the volume, a further large folding plan.
This very scarce work expands upon a pamphlet first issued in 1814 (Moscou avant et après l’incendie), devoted chiefly to the burning of Moscow in 1812, of...
Vezry rare first edition.
Jesuit library stamp to the half-title, a few minor spots of foxing, slight tears to the head and tail of the spine.
First edition of these important memoirs covering the years 1747 to 1783 (cf. Sabin 39271).
Contemporary full mottled calf, smooth spine gilt with fillets, roulettes and floral tools, some rubbing with small losses of leather at the foot of the upper board, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the edges, marbled edges; period binding.
Upper cap and corners restored.
The duc de Lauzun (1747–1793) accompanied the comte de Rochambeau during the French expedition to America; he recounts this campaign in his Mémoires, pp. 339–375.
The editorial history of this publication deserves notice: the original manuscript having not been recovered, the text—issued some twelve times...
First edition of the illustrated French translation, with 2 maps (one folding), in-text figures, and 5 steel-engraved plates by Fauchery (see Chadenat 2669. Borba de Moraes does not mention the very brief passage devoted to the Rio stage of the journey (see volume III, p. 381), which is in fact rather insignificant).
Some foxing.
Contemporary romantic bindings in aubergine half sheep, smooth spines faded and decorated with gilt romantic arabesques, light wear to the headcaps, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, armorial bookplates pasted to the pastedowns, speckled edges.
The English traveller Richard Lander [1804–1834], originally trained as a...
An offprint from the Description de l'Égypte; the paper was read during the expedition itself before the members of the Institut d'Égypte on 1 Frimaire, Year IX [22 November 1800].
See Meulenaere, p. 125.
Bradel binding in full red boards, smooth spine, red title label mounted lengthwise, the upper cover very lightly and marginally faded; modern binding.
A civil engineer with the Corps des Ponts et Chaussées, Michel-Ange Lancret (1774–1807) had been tasked with gathering the movable goods abandoned by the Mamluks during their flight, which in part supplied the material for this memoir.
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 illustrated with 1 large folding map: "Carte de la côte occidentale d'Afrique depuis le Cap Barbas jusqu'au Cap Tagrin par Lapie, Ingénieur Géographe (et) gravée par P.F. Tardieu" (cf. Gay 2905.)
Our copy in original stitched wrappers with interim covers lined with marbled paper.
Light dampstaining to the right margin of the final leaves.
Important details on the slave trade in connection with the Gorée Island stopover at the end of the volume.
Pierre Labarthe (Dax 1760 - Paris 1824) was appointed head of the Bureau of Eastern Colonies and African Coasts in 1794, a position he held until 1808.
He had gathered numerous authentic documents...
Rare first edition of this fervent—indeed visionary—appeal to bring the Orient under the sway of the combined powers of the State and the Christian religion, informed by such an overtly Eurocentric outlook that the work is almost unreadable today, yet remains an eloquent record of the illusions prevailing in the West in the mid-nineteenth century.
Corners restored at the outer tips of the boards, some scattered foxing, and a stain to the right margin of the upper cover.
In an admirably prophetic vein, the author exclaims: "La civilisation chrétienne, qui ne cesse d'agrandir son cercle, ne s'arrêtera pas devant le Coran, et ce n'est pas la loi de Mahomet qui présidera au...
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Mémoires de la Société naturelle des sciences naturelles de Cherbourg, vol. XX (1876).
See O'Reilly, Tahiti, 2693. Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Aix-Marseille, Cherbourg).
Bradel binding in blue half cloth, smooth spine, long red marbled morocco title label, marbled paper sides, original wrappers preserved, modern signed binding by Boichot.
This pamphlet, which contains a large number of botanical entries on the Marquesas, Tahiti, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, etc., is a continuation of the study entitled Les Plantes alimentaires de l'Océanie (1875).
A...
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.
First edition.
Contemporary full mottled fawn calf, smooth spine gilt with floral tools and gilt geometric tooling, tan calf lettering-piece, gilt rolls to the headcaps now largely faded, a small loss to the upper headcap, some rubbing to the joints, single blind fillet framing the covers, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the edges of the boards mostly worn away, yellow sprinkled edges, corners just a little softened; a period binding.
Sole edition of this history of travel since Antiquity, considered from the standpoint of its benefits to trade and commerce.
The work is nominally presented as a translation, though it is in fact by the Marseille man of letters...
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...
Rare illustrated first edition, complete with three folding maps printed at the end of the volume: Cercle de Biskra, Zaatcha et les oasis voisines, Plan des attaques de Zaatcha du 7 octobre au 26 novembre 1849 (cf. Playfair 2479. Tailliart 1903.)
Bound in modern half black shagreen, spine with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, minor rubbing to foot of spine, comb-marbled paper sides, brown paper endleaves and pastedowns, top edge gilt.
Occasional foxing, manuscript bookplate in violet pencil on a flyleaf.
First edition.
Minor marginal tears to the boards, a few spots of foxing.
Not recorded by Sabin.
First edition, illustrated with 11 plates printed outside the text and bound in at the end of the volume.
Some tears with small losses to the spine and to the margins of the covers, a dampstain to the right-hand margin (not affecting the text) on the text leaves.
A copy preserved in its original wrappers.
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...
Rare first edition, illustrated with a large folding plate containing a hand-coloured map.
Cf. Ferguson I, 814 ("Section 12 deals with Australia and New Zealand"). Not recorded by Sabin and by most other bibliographers.
Bradel case binding in paper-covered boards, beige wrappers, smooth spine with some rubbing, blind title to the spine, original plain wrappers preserved; modern binding.
Small marginal losses to the corners of the first few leaves, not affecting the text.
The plate outside the text offers a world map in which the Protestant areas are shown in pink, together with a detailed list of the various missionary societies by region or city.
...First edition of the French translation.
Loukia Droulia (849) records this work without having been able to examine it. Not in Blackmer and Atabey, who describe the English edition published the same year (A narrative of Lord Byron's last journey to Greece).
Contemporary full mottled beige calf, flat spine elaborately decorated with gilt garlands and fleurons, red morocco lettering piece, minor rubbing at the foot of the joints, gilt tooling to spine-ends, borders of gilt dotted rules, gilt garlands to the boards also framed in gilt, edges framed in gilt, marbled edges.
A few minor and unobtrusive spots.
Pietro Gamba (1801-1826) was the brother of...
First edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin 26375).
A defence of Catholic principles addressed to a Protestant minister (…) preceded by a notice on the author’s life and virtues. Translated from the English by Prince Augustin Galitzin. Paris, Ch. Douniol [printed by Simon Raçon et Comp.], 1856, 12mo.
Contemporary half navy blue shagreen, spine with four raised bands ruled and panelled in gilt, slight unobtrusive rubbing to the spine, marbled boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Scattered foxing.
A work of religious controversy; the preface offers interesting information regarding Prince Galitzin’s activities in the United States.
Bound after it...
First edition.
Minor losses at head and foot of the spine, which is slightly sunned; a few small spots of foxing.
Alongside a distinguished career in the colonial troops, in Senegal and Indochina, General Henri Frey (1847–1932) also cultivated literary and scholarly ambitions. This unusual thesis was, of course, neither substantiated nor taken up subsequently …
On the upper margin of the half-title, an autograph inscription by Henri Frey to Commandant Étienne Lunet de Lajonquières [here spelled Jonquières] (1861–1933), of the Marine Infantry, archaeologist and ethnographer, and also a key figure in the organisation of the preservation of Historical Monuments in...
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Journal asiatique.
A single copy recorded in the CCF (BnF).
Losses to the spine and to the margins of the boards, the interior remaining in pleasing condition.
Fulgence Fresnel (1795-1855) developed an early passion for Oriental languages and attended the Arabic and Persian lectures of Sylvestre de Sacy, before studying with the Maronites of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.
He resided in Egypt, served as a consular agent at Djidda (a port on the Red Sea), travelled through part of Arabia and learned the Himyarite language. In 1852 he was appointed to head the scientific...
An uncommon first edition (cf. Palau, 92 173. Barbier, IV, 1072. Quérard, II, 40. Cioranescu, XVIII, 28675-28678.)
Contemporary full marbled fawn calf, smooth spine decorated with double gilt panels and ornaments, hazelnut calf lettering-piece, spine caps defective, covers framed with a single blind fillet, marbled endpapers, corners rubbed, gilt fillets to the edges, red edges; a fragile contemporary binding: spine ends trimmed, joints and upper hinge entirely split.
The imprint is fictitious: the pamphlet was not printed at Saint-Malo.
This satire, directed against the government, religion and customs of the Spaniards, and marked by singular bad faith (Fleuriot never...
First edition (cf. Sabin 23192).
Contemporary half brown shagreen, spine with four raised bands decorated with blind-stamped compartments, slight rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.
A few small spots of foxing, with several imperial colportage stamps at the foot of certain leaves.
The sole edition of this commemorative text, apparently composed directly in French for the author’s nephew.
The physician Thomas Wiltberger Evans (1823-1897) had practised as a dentist in Maryland until 1847, before moving to Paris at the invitation of a fellow American, Dr Cyrus Starr Brewster (1799-1870), who had been...
First edition illustrated with a folding map and a folding plate of fossils (cf. O'Reilly, Nouvelle-Calédonie, 486a).
Light waterstaining affecting the plate and the map at the end of the volume.
The palaeontologist Eugène Eudes-Deslongchamps (1830–1889) devoted most of his work to Normandy, his native region, but he also produced geological monographs based on collections assembled by other researchers, as is the case here.
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.
Rare first edition, cf. Duvivier, I, 143.
Only 2 copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Muséum).
Half-cloth binding in black, smooth and rebacked spine, marbled paper boards, worn corners, speckled edges.
Minor foxing, not affecting the text.
The author, Father Antoine Duss (Anton Düß, 1840–1924), was a Swiss-born Spiritan missionary naturalized as a French citizen. He carried out his ministry almost exclusively in Martinique, particularly in Fort-de-France. He studied these plants "with care, consulting both ancient and modern works and illustrations published on these cryptogams growing in the Antilles in general, including those by Plumier, Swartz, Sloane, de...
First edition, illustrated with a large folding map inserted as a plate (see Gay 1114; Playfair 692; Tailliart 1290: "Livre écrit entre la première (1836) et la deuxième (1837) expédition de Constantine : étude consciencieuse, documentée, sincère").
Modern half caramel calf binding, smooth spine gilt with double fillets, marbled paper sides, original upper wrapper preserved.
Some foxing.
First edition (Pritzel, 2480.)
Our copy is issued in the original wrappers, preserved in a temporary mustard-coloured paper cover; the spine rubbed with losses to the mustard paper, and a library shelf label pasted to the verso of the upper cover.
A very rare botanical monograph written by the great navigator following the scientific expedition sent to the Black Sea and the Greek islands (aboard the vessel La Chevrette), during which he was responsible for observations in natural history and archaeology (it was in the course of this mission that the Venus de Milo was unearthed).
Rare first edition issued as an offprint from the Journal asiatique, no. 7.
Contemporary half aubergine calf binding with corners, smooth spine gilt with Romantic arabesque tools, minor rubbing to the spine, gilt garland frame to the marbled paper boards, orange paper endleaves and pastedowns, rubbed corners; a period binding.
Dampstaining affecting the first half of the volume, some foxing.
Concise manual of the Hanafi rite, one of the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence, the oldest and notably the one recognised as official within the Ottoman Empire.
Antoine-Joseph Du Caurroy (1775–1853) served as an interpreter at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Fourth separate issue of this memoir. The text first appeared in the Description de l’Égypte, before being reissued in several offprints (cf. Meulenaere p. 80.)
Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, under temporary green paper covers, spine restored, minor marginal losses and a few tears to the covers, internally in pleasing condition.
At the head of the front free endpaper, autograph inscription by Du Bois-Aymé “à son honorable collège et ami Monsieur Etienne”.
Du Bois-Aymé (1779-1846), who embarked on the Tonnant, travelled to Egypt as a student of the École Polytechnique. He sat his examinations there, at the same time as...
New edition illustrated with 66 plates and maps printed outside the text, most of them folding: 3 frontispieces, 39 plates and 24 maps, including a world map and charts of the various islands, some printed with coastal profiles, as well as views of ports (Manila, Bahia, Scio), of islands (the Canaries, Cape Verde), monuments, a shipwreck, battle scenes, indigenous peoples, flora (apricot, cocoa), and fauna (birds, fish), together with a curious depiction of the “hippopotamus or sea-horse” (vol. 3, p. 361).
Cf. Sabin, 18382. Borba de Moraes, I, 243-244. Leclerc (1867), 416. Cordier, Bibl. Indosinica, 1459-1460. Boucher de La Richarderie, I, 121-122. Hoefer, XII, 881-885.
...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.
First edition of this defence of the exclusive privilege of the Compagnie des Indes, then being challenged by the deputies of the National Assembly.
This memorandum is signed by Le Couteux du Mollay, Greffulge, Boyd, Dangirard, Picquet, and Le Cocq, commissioners representing the Company’s shareholders.
Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, issued in the temporary blue waiting covers.
A central fold throughout, rubbing with losses to the waiting covers, otherwise a pleasingly clean copy internally.
Rare first edition.
Contemporary half fawn cloth Bradel binding, smooth spine, place and date gilt at foot, marbled paper boards, covers preserved.
A single copy recorded in the CCF (BnF).
The only edition, uncommon. A collection of notes and anecdotes relating to Abbé Castel’s period of study in Rome (born 1894, ordained 1920) during his seminary years.
Some spotting to the endpapers.
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...
Rare first edition.
Full blue cloth Bradel binding, flat spine, black sheepskin title label lettered lengthwise, original wrappers preserved; a modest binding.
Colour-illustrated wrapper by J.A. Josse; the volume is illustrated with a portrait of the author, a portrait of Ettore Bugatti, one map and 29 photographic reproductions depicting the HP 10 in numerous settings.
Right margin of the upper wrapper and the table of contents at the end of the volume restored with an adhesive strip.
First edition printed in Gothic type (cf. Engelmann, I, p. 206. Sabin, 8207. Not in Howes.)
Contemporary plain full paper boards, smooth spine split at head and foot, collection label pasted on the spine and extending onto the covers, corners worn.
Foxing.
Bromme’s works, based on recent travels, constituted the principal source of information for prospective European emigrants.
He issued separate editions arranged by region or state, as here for Louisiana.
"Freud'sche Bibliothek" label pasted to the front pastedown, with manuscript number; Oscar Messerly stamp on the title page and on one further leaf.
First edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin 8048; Quérard I, 521, who gives the date 1825).
Contemporary half roan with an aubergine hue, the flat spines lightly sunned and ruled with gilt fillets and dotted tooling, some rubbing to the backs, marbled paper sides, yellow mottled edges.
A few very light, insignificant spots.
John Bristed, born in the county of Dorset in 1778, died in the United States in 1855.
After studying medicine and law, he entered the Church. "Before leaving England he began writing and seems to have held ideas considered radical at the time (...) In 1806 Bristed came to New York City and there practised law, lectured, and wrote...
First edition, illustrated with a map of the Mexican states at the time of the Conquest in 1521, by Malte-Brun (see Sabin 7429, Leclerc 1079, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bibliothèque Mexico-Guatémalienne, p. 27, Numa Broc, Amérique, pp. 45-47).
Originally engraved by Erhard Schieble, this map is presented here as an early facsimile, likely produced by the publisher to complete his copies.
Bound in half havana shagreen, spines with four raised bands decorated with gilt tooling and gilt panels and fillets, orange shagreen title labels, minor rubbing to spines, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, twentieth-century bindings.
Waterstains...
Second edition, partly original, as enlarged (cf. Barbier II, 241: gives "Deslandes". Polak 1130. INED 737. See Sabin 19744 for the first English edition published the same year.)
Full brown sheep binding, smooth spine gilt-ruled and decorated with gilt compartments and floral tools, rubbing to the joints, gilt rolls on the head- and tailcaps partly dulled, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on the board edges faint in places, red edges, a period binding.
Some repairs to the spine.
Pages 191 to 252 contain the "Mémoire historique sur les Indes Braves, et les Forbans François du Golfe de Darien".
This edition appeared in the same year as the...
First edition.
Contemporary half black shagreen over comb-marbled paper boards, spine with five raised bands ruled in black, green paper endleaves and pastedowns, original wrappers retained (soiled), modern binding.
Heavy foxing throughout.
First edition of the illustrated French translation, with a folding map (cf. Sabin 5568).
Only three copies recorded in the French Union Catalogue (BnF, Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Draguignan).
Contemporary-style half calf, smooth spine rubbed, joints split at head and foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, in a slightly later binding.
Light foxing, a paper flaw in the right margin of the final leaf not affecting the text.
It should be noted that the translator mistook the genitive form for part of the author’s surname, spelling it “Birkbecks”.
The American first edition appeared in 1818 under the title of...
Illustrated edition with 6 plates hors texte, including one folding map; French text with an English translation.
Only the introduction is in English, the remainder of the volume being devoted to a sound scholarly publication of the accounts of Cartier’s three voyages.
Repaired tears at head and tail of the spine; spine and boards lightly sunned.
Henry Percival Biggar (1872–1938) was an archivist at the Public Archives of Canada and a leading authority on the history of New France.
Copy from the library of the archivist Charles Bourel de La Roncière (1870–1941), a specialist in maritime and colonial history, with, on the front free endpaper, an autograph...
First separate edition, printed in a small number of copies, taken from the Annales des sciences naturelles; the work was later republished by Baillière in 1876 (cf. O'Reilly, Nouvelle-Calédonie, 608, which records only the periodical publication).
Bradel case-binding in full green paper-covered boards, brown morocco lettering-piece lettered vertically; the original provisional upper wrapper preserved; modern binding.
The issue is illustrated at the end of the volume with an engraved plate.
A clear waterstain in the outer margins of the leaves.
Émile Bescherelle (1828–1903), president of the Société botanique de France, was a leading specialist in...
First edition illustrated with 105 engravings, a heliogravure portrait frontispiece with tissue guard, as well as 2 folding maps at the end of the volume.
Publisher's bottle-green full cloth Bradel binding, smooth spine, upper cover decoratively blocked, bevelled boards, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, corners lightly rubbed.
A Geneva-born geographer, Alfred Bertrand (1856-1924) undertook numerous journeys for ethnographic purposes as well as missionary work; a fervent Calvinist, he sought not only the conversion of indigenous peoples but also a deeper understanding of their customs, and the destinations of his expeditions were largely determined by the...
Rare first edition, printed in small numbers, of this Extrait du Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, 2e série, tome XI, illustrated with two folding plates showing topographical cross-sections of various valleys, including that of the Jordan (cf. Hage Chahine, 471; Numa Broc, Asie, pp. 28–29).
Half tan calf, smooth spine gilt-ruled and tooled, some rubbing to the spine, one joint restored at the head, green morocco lettering-piece, marbled boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges; a contemporary binding.
An orientalist and archaeologist, the Comte de Bertou explored Palestine in 1838 with the mission of verifying the hypothesis of an ancient outflow...
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).
Unpublished manuscript comprising 17 original signed and captioned watercolours executed in 1873 by a certain A. Poquet, an illustrator whose name has not been traced in the principal artists' dictionaries. The work announced on the calligraphic title page, Vues et types du Sénégal (Views and Types of Senegal), appears never to have been published; these watercolours almost certainly constitute the original maquette, or preparatory artwork, intended for its illustration.
The volume comprises a calligraphic title leaf, with a table of plates on the verso, followed by thirteen leaves on which the seventeen watercolours are mounted, one or two to a page...
First edition of the illustrated French translation, embellished in the second volume with a plate, a folding table, and a large folding map printed as a separate leaf (cf. Gay 2996).
Contemporary full mottled fawn calf, smooth spines gilt with fillets, garlands, and floral tools, red morocco title and volume labels, with the volume labels inlaid with green morocco, gilt rolls at the headcaps, minor rubbing to the spines, dentelle, single gilt fillet and gilt garland framing the boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, corners rubbed, gilt fillets to the board edges, lemon edges; bindings of the period.
In 1797, John Barrow (1764–1848) accompanied Lord Macartney, as his...
Illustrated first edition, featuring at the end of the volume two plates of inscriptions printed on tinted grounds.
Some tears and small losses to the corners of the spine and boards; the interior remains in pleasing condition.
Abbé Bargès (1810–1896), a native of Auriol, pursued an unconventional career marked by his exceptional command of Eastern languages (Hebrew, Arabic), and devoted himself in particular to epigraphy, while also engaging with other fields of study.
The Phoenician world held a special fascination for him, as he long defended the Punic origins of Marseille, and published six monographs on Phoenician-language inscriptions between 1847 and 1888; the...
First edition of this monograph devoted to Punic inscriptions discovered in Tunis and its surrounding area.
Small marginal tears to the spine and boards, which also show some light spotting.
Abbé Bargès (1810–1896), a native of Auriol, pursued an unusual career grounded in his exceptional command of Oriental languages (Hebrew, Arabic), and specialised in epigraphy while also engaging with a wider range of disciplines.
The Phoenician world was of particular interest to him, as he long upheld the Punic origin of Marseilles, and he published six monographs on inscriptions in the Phoenician language between 1847 and 1888; the present work forms part of this...
First edition of this pamphlet, directed in part against Mormonism (cf. Sabin 2797).
Illustrated with a folding lithographed map of the United States, inserted as a plate.
Spine cracked with small losses and tears at the joints; library shelf label pasted at the foot of the upper wrapper; small corner tears to the wrappers.
This booklet also considers the relations between Christians and the indigenous inhabitants, as well as with the African population brought to the United States through the cupidity of the citizens of the Old World. A good copy.
First edition, illustrated with a folding map by Kiepert, issued as a separate plate (see Gay 3605).
Contemporary-style half tobacco calf binding, spine with five raised bands ruled in black, sides covered with marbled paper, modern binding.
Occasional foxing.
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, cf. Gay 204; Bourquelot I, 115.
Contemporary full mottled fawn sheep, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets and fleurons, joints rubbed, red shagreen title-piece, gilt rolls to the headcaps partly faded, gilt dentelle border to the boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to the edges of the boards, partly browned, red edges.
Joints restored, circular losses filled in the blank areas of the title and half-title pages.
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...
Rare first edition of the illustrated French translation, complete with two folding maps of Northern Asia, one showing the region at the time of the conquests of Genghis Khan (or Zingis-Chan), the other representing the contemporary state of Asia (cf. Brunet, I, 19; Chadenat, 1782).
Translated from the Tartar manuscript of Abulgasi-Bayadur-Chan and enriched with a large number of authentic and highly curious remarks on the true present state of Northern Asia, together with the necessary geographical maps. By D***. Leiden, Abram Kallewier, 1726.
Contemporary full brown calf bindings, spines with five raised bands highlighted by gilt rules and decorated with gilt compartments...
Limited first edition printed in a small number of copies, extracted from the "Bulletin de l'Institut égyptien", series V, vol. X.
Illustrated booklet with 4 figures in the text and 2 plates outside the text.
Only one copy recorded in the CCF.
A tear to the foot of the spine, covers marginally soiled and also bearing small black stains, internally in good condition.
A publicist and collector, then secretary to the Council of Ministers, Ahmad Zaki Basha (1867-1934) was, between 1892 and 1934, one of the most dynamic figures of Egyptian cultural life: a polyglot, translator, bibliophile, philologist, and man of learning, keenly interested in modernity and...
First edition of the French translation, established from the second edition.
Our copy, preserved in its original wrappers under a plain provisional cover, is complete with its coloured map, almost invariably lacking.
The only French translation, uncommon, of "A sketch of the military and political power of Russia in the year 1817", an anti-Russian pamphlet composed in the context of the growing opposition between Great Britain and Russia, once the aftermath of the Empire had been settled.
General Robert Thomas Wilson (1777-1849) had served in 1812 as liaison officer with Alexander’s army.
Provenance: copy from the library of Armand-François-Théophile...
First edition of the French translation (cf. Bruun (Christian), Bibliotheca Danica, V, 235.)
Contemporary uniform marbled full calf bindings, spines in six compartments with five raised bands, decorated with faded gilt fillets, gilt compartments and floral tools, gilt roll tooling to the caps partly rubbed, marbled endpapers, gilt rules to board edges, corners lightly bumped, contemporary bindings.
Some restorations to several joints and a few spines.
The first volume is devoted to Holland and Denmark, the second to Sweden and Russia, the third deals exclusively with Russia, and the fourth concerns Poland.
A pleasing copy.
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.
