Rare books on antique civilizations: Antique Egypt, Greek and Roman history, antique texts and birth of archaeology

A very rare first edition of this atlas issued separately, comprising a folding map and 46 plates mounted on guards, illustrating a total of 135 figures.

Contemporary Bradel-style half black percaline over marbled paper-covered boards, smooth spine worn at the foot, title label partially rubbed away, boards with scuffs and paper losses, bumped corners, a few chips to the edges.

According to the CCFr, the atlas is held only by the Muséum, while the accompanying text is recorded solely in the collections of the Quai Branly.

An exceptionally rare separately issued atlas to this monograph on the Chibcha, Chibchas, or Muisca people, the pre-Columbian civilization of...

First edition illustrated with 7 plates printed outside the text.

A snag with loss to the front wrapper, foxing throughout, dampstain to the rear wrapper.

A commentary on the bilingual Phoenician and Greek inscription engraved on one of the two Cippi of Melqart, dating from the 2nd century BC and presented in 1782 to Louis XVI by the Grand Master of the Hospitallers.

It was then housed at the Bibliothèque Mazarine and has been preserved at the Louvre since 1864.

First edition, one of 115 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only deluxe copies aside from 35 on pure thread.

Two small spots of foxing on the front cover, a discreet crease, a handsome copy as issued.
 
Rare and highly sought after in deluxe paper.

New quarto edition, revised and corrected by the author, with numerous decorated headpieces, initials and tailpieces.

Full brown calf, spine in six compartments with five raised bands richly gilt-tooled, red morocco lettering-piece, triple blind fillet border to boards, double gilt fillet to board edges, red edges, marbled pastedowns and endpapers.

Light scratches and scuffing to boards, corners slightly bumped, otherwise a very...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société archéologique de Constantine de l'année 1873.

Not in Tailliart.

Front wrapper detached then reattached, losses to the spine, small chips to the corners.

Scarce work illustrated with 14 plates printed hors texte and numbered I–XII (including plates VI bis and ter). Not in Tailliart.

A volunteer in the Corps of Engineers from 1841 onward, Baptiste-Charles Brunon (1821–1888) spent most of his military career in Algeria; after the 1871 war he returned to oversee the Engineering Corps in Constantine.

First edition describing the 388 items offered in the sale.

A few pencilled hammer prices in the margins, a loss to the upper right corner of the front wrapper and title-page, and small corner losses to the wrappers.

The introduction is by Fröhner, though the expert in charge of the sale was Hoffmann.

Of Baden origin, the numismatist Ludwig Wilhelm Fröhner (1834–1925) settled in Paris in 1859; he became a close friend of Napoleon III and assisted him in the preparation of his Histoire de Jules César (1865–1866), which helped him obtain both French naturalisation (1866) and an important post at the Louvre.

He later devoted himself to the cataloguing of...

First edition of this Latin work devoted to the history of the ancient Mediterranean: Sardinia and the influences of Greece, North Africa, the Syrtes and Numidian tribes, the history of the tyrant of Syracuse, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, the island of Rhodes, and more (cf. Adams, L-704. See Durling, 2796, which records only later editions).

Restored full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt tools now largely softened, blind fillets and gilt corner ornaments framing the boards, central gilt medallion enclosing a device in Greek characters, manuscript inscription on the fore-edge, early binding.

Ink numbering at the head of the verso of the...

First edition, illustrated at the close of the volume with six plates printed out of text.

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Institut, Strasbourg).

Our copy is preserved in its original state, issued in a temporary paper wrapper.

Spine restored at head with small losses; marginal losses to the soiled covers; two small adhesive strips along the right margins of the final plate; author’s name and title pencilled on the upper cover.

The study of Phoenician languages was the speciality of Auguste-Célestin Judas (1805–1873).

First edition, printed in a small run, of this offprint from the Journal des savants.

Work illustrated with a finely engraved plate printed outside the text.

Some scattered foxing internally and to the wrappers.

Appointed in 1820 to the chair of archaeology at the Sorbonne, succeeding Quatremère de Quincy, Désiré Raoul-Rochette (1789–1854) was chiefly known for his expertise in Greek antiquity. He also served as curator of the Cabinet des médailles.

On the upper cover, authorial presentation inscription from Désiré Raoul-Rochette to the physician and botanist Henri Dutrochet (1776–1847), the discoverer of the phenomena of exosmosis and...

Very rare first edition.

This printing does not include the two maps later added by the publisher in the second issue, intended to illustrate the itinerary for readers who had not acquired the atlas (corresponding to plates XVIII and XXIV of the atlas), cf. Hage Chahine 3995. Röhricht 480-481. Chadenat 1712.

The text volume is largely unopened and includes one full-page plate.

The atlas volume, housed in a red full-cloth box and slipcase, is complete with all 27 plates (numbered I to XXVI, XVIII [bis]; plates XIX-XX are printed on a single sheet).

A very fine and rare copy in its original condition.

First edition.

Contemporary half calf in a bronze tone, the spine with four raised bands framed by double gilt rules and gilt pointillé work, together with broad black fillets; joints rubbed, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers, edges sprinkled; a period binding.

Scattered foxing.

Very rare first edition of this splendid photographic album, produced in Cairo in 1871, representing the first illustrated catalogue of the earliest museum devoted to Egyptology.

The photographs by Hippolyte Delié and Émile Béchard depict the rooms and antiquities of the Boulaq Museum, founded in Cairo in 1863 by the eminent Egyptologist Auguste Mariette (1821–1881).

The album comprises forty albumen prints (approx. 24.5 × 18 cm), mounted on thick card leaves set on guards, each accompanied by a letterpress commentary leaf (except plates 4 and 11, which each have two). The prints are mounted on the versos of the plates, the rectos bearing the printed captions.

First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with four hors-texte plates printed on chamois paper.

Not recorded by Brunet, who lists the author’s principal works.

Scattered foxing, including to the boards.

The orientalist Michelangelo Lanci (1779–1867) produced a fascinating blend of genuine erudition and improbable conjectures, shaped by the pre-critical and broadly concordist mindset then prevailing without challenge in the learned circles of pontifical Rome (Lanci being a subject of the Pope).

This largely accounts for the profound neglect into which most of his works have since fallen.

Prisse d’Avennes (1807–1879), who had worked with Champollion...

Uncommon first edition.

An early controversy over the skin color of the first known anthropoids, marked by sharply divided opinions rooted as much in common preconceptions as in anthropological analysis.

All participants in the debate were recognized authorities in their respective fields: Pierre-Toussaint Marcel de Serres de Mesplès (1780–1862) in geology; Pierre Lacour (1778–1859) in art history and techniques; and Charles Des Moulins (1798–1875) in botany.

Minor tears and slight losses at the corners of the wrappers, without affecting integrity.

Manuscript ex-libris “La Neufville” at the head of the front cover.

First edition of the French translation by Jean Mourier.

Only one copy listed in the CCF (BULAC).

Full burgundy cloth binding, smooth spine with gilt lettering running lengthwise, pink paper pastedowns and endpapers, a modest modern binding.

Some light, insignificant foxing.

Very rare work tracing the origins of the Kingdom of Georgia up to the introduction of Christianity.

Rare first edition illustrated with 31 figures in the text.

Contemporary half blond calf, the spine slightly sunned, with five raised bands decorated with gilt and black fillets, fawn morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper sides, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled comb-marbled edges.

Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829–1914), architect to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, undertook several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonika, Smyrna, Alexandria) before being sent by the French government to Jerusalem (1862–1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne.

He was also deeply interested in ancient metrology, on which he wrote several monographs (the final...

Very rare first edition.

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Sainte-Geneviève, CNAM).

Half blond calf, spine lightly sunned, with five raised bands decorated with gilt and black fillets, tan morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, mottled comb-marbled edges, original front wrapper preserved; contemporary binding.

The architect of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829–1914), undertook several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonika, Smyrna, Alexandria) before being sent by the French government to Jerusalem (1862–1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne. He also developed a...

First edition illustrated with a copper-engraved plate (showing some dampstains) from the second part of this brief communication, which served as an invitation to the public meeting of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow.

According to the CCF, only the Natural History Museum holds all three parts, published respectively in 1809, 1810, and 1811.

Very rare copy preserved in its original stitched wrappers with the printed pink cover.

Covers slightly discoloured and foxed at the margins, two dampstains affecting the lower edge throughout. Manuscript notes at the head of the front wrapper identifying the author and title.

The Saxon naturalist Fischer von...

Rare first edition (cf. Caillet 3017).

Full porphyry calf binding, smooth spine decorated in the grotesque style, small losses and rubbing at the foot of the spine, tan calf title label with a small loss and restoration, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, gilt rolls on the caps partially faded, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

An interesting dissertation written by President de Brosses (1709–1777) for the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, “on ancient myths, theurgy, magic, and secret cults.”

First illustrated edition, with four folding plates bound at the end of the volume (cf. Tailliart 1979).

Contemporary half green calf binding, flat spine faded and yellowed, decorated with a gilt cartouche and ornamental tooling at head and tail, caps trimmed, joints fragile, marbled paper boards, hand-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, period binding.

Some foxing.

In fact, this pamphlet was intended as the first of a series, hence the general title; however, only this installment was ever published. The secondary title specifies the subject of the volume: "Relation d'une excursion de Bône à Guelma et à Constantine, par sir Grenville Temple et le...

First edition, no deluxe copies printed.

A pleasant copy.

Inscribed and signed by Yves Coppens to Emile Noël.

First edition, printed in a very small number of copies, of this extract from the Revue archéologique.

The booklet is illustrated with several figures in the text and, at the beginning of the volume, a full-page plate.

Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau (1846-1923), orientalist and archaeologist, made major archaeological discoveries in Palestine, where he had resided since 1867 as dragoman-chancellor at the French consulate. Appointed consul in Jaffa in 1881, he accepted a mission on the Egyptian coast east of the Nile, in Philistia, Phoenicia and Palestine; he published the results in the Archives des missions scientifiques.

Until his death, he pursued a dual...

First edition adorned with numerous copper-engraved reproductions of medals and coins distributed across 4 plates outside the text, together with 19 vignettes within the text.

Half blue sheep binding with corners, unlettered spine with five raised bands, moiré-patterned paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers preserved, front cover marginally soiled, modern binding.

Rare collection of twelve letters focused on coinage.

The Lorrain scholar Nicolas-Damas Marchant (1767-1833) was a military physician, numismatist, and also served as mayor of Metz from 1 November 1805 to 6 May 1815, spanning almost the entire Imperial period.

First edition, one of the press copies.
Half brown shagreen binding, smooth spine with gilt floral panels, gilt initials C.T. at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, covers preserved, gilt edges, one upper corner slightly rubbed, binding dating from some years later.
Inscribed by Charles Terrasse (son of Claude) in ink at the head of a flyleaf.

Discreet restorations to the joints.
Precious presentation copy signed and inscribed by Alfred Jarry: "A Claude Terrasse son admirateur et son ami. Alf. Jarry" [his admirer and friend]

 

First edition and definitive and posthumous edition, arranged in strict chronological order, of a very rare iconographic series whose publication had begun as early as 1806 in somewhat disorderly instalments, but was never completed (only 49 instalments had appeared at the author’s death).

Cf Brunet V, 1453.

Work illustrated with 300 plates: lithographed and watercoloured title-frontispiece and 149 engraved plates, most finely hand-coloured, for the first volume; 150 plates for the second.

Contemporary bindings in half cherry-red morocco-grained shagreen with corners, spines with five raised bands decorated with blind fillets and panels, some minor rubbing to spines...

First edition, printed in 500 numbered copies, of this splendid archaeological album featuring 78 in-text illustrations and 13 full-page plates with tissue guards (including 7 double-page or folding plates).

Text by Henri Lechat.

Publisher’s Bradel binding in full forest green cloth, smooth spine, headcaps slightly crushed, one joint split at head, spine and boards ruled in ochre, corners slightly rubbed, bookplate affixed to the front pastedown.

Copy from the library of industrialist Anatole Descamps (1833–1907), with engraved ex-libris by Devambez mounted on the pastedown.

A handsome copy.

First edition, illustrated with 11 double-page folio plates, including 2 plans printed on tracing paper. (Not listed in Hage Chahine.)

The text fascicle is in wrappers and the suite of plates is loose, both housed in the publisher’s original black cloth-backed portfolio with corners, flat spine without lettering, title label centered on the upper board, sand-colored boards showing some stains and scuff marks, with flaps and ties.

On the inside flap of the publisher’s portfolio, autograph inscription signed by Henri Chevrier to Pierre Glénat: "... dans l'espoir de faire un jour sa connaissance sous le soleil der Thèbes..."

First edition illustrated with 81 engraved plates, drawn by Antoine-Marie Chenavard and engraved on steel by various artists, comprising: a route map, a plan of Athens, and 79 plates numbered I to LXXV, including plates XXVIIIbis, XLVIIIbis (these two not listed in the table), LVIbis, and LVIIbis.

Cf. Blackmer 334. Atabey 230. Brunet II, 1831.

Each plate is accompanied by a leaf of explanatory text.

Plates LIX and LX are transposed in this copy.

Bound in modern half green sheep with corners, spine with four raised bands decorated with black fillets, black sheep lettering-piece and author’s name, sides covered in almond-green felted paper, a scratch to the lower...

First edition, only two copies listed in the CCF (Archives nationales, Arras).

Spine split with some losses. 

Complete with the two successive reports (1 February 1862; 6 June 1863).

Very rare first edition. 

Some light foxing.

Contemporary 19th-century modest half-grained cloth binding, spine faded, marbled paper boards with surface abrasions, yellow endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges. 

Sole edition, uncommon, of this vindication by Jacob Spon (1647-1685) concerning his major travel account of the Levant (Voyage d'Italie, de Dalmatie, de Grèce et du Levant, fait aux années 1675 & 1676), published in 1678.

First edition of this fine collection comprising 72 numbered copper-engraved plates. (cf. Katalog der Ornamentstichsammlung Berlin, 2744. Brunet, V, 199 lists the author's name as Scheult).

Contemporary half calf binding with vellum-tipped corners, recently rebacked with a smooth spine decorated with gilt ornamental rolls and fleurons, olive green morocco label. Some rubbing to the spine, marbled paper-covered boards.

Scattered foxing, light dampstain to the upper outer corner of most leaves.

First edition, illustrated with 11 lithographed plates by Théodule Devéria and printed by Kaeppelin.

Some occasional foxing.

Rare.

First edition of this rare album illustrated with 15 line-engraved plates, each protected by a tissue guard and accompanied by a caption leaf, including a reproduction of the author's portrait drawn by Ingres in Rome in 1818.

Publisher's original full grey boards, flat spine without lettering, some rubbing, blind-ruled borders on covers, a scratch to the foot of the upper cover, central title, corners rubbed.

Some foxing.

Inscribed by Antoine-Marie Chenavard to his friend Antonin L., with the author's signed presentation note.

First edition, cf. Blackmer 133. Not in Atabey.

Contemporary romantic binding in navy-blue half sheep, spine gilt with decorative romantic tools, gilt rolls (partly faded) at head and foot, gilt fillet framing the boards decorated in blind with romantic arabesques, gilt-stamped plaque of the "Lycée impérial du Mans" to upper board, some wear along board edges, endpapers and pastedowns of marbled paper, marbled edges, gilt tooling at head and foot of the boards’ edges mostly rubbed. A handsome romantic binding of the period.

A near-spotless copy, attractively preserved in a period romantic binding.

First edition describing 1,271 objects, illustrated with 3 full-page line-engraved plates.

Inscribed on the upper cover with a signed autograph presentation from François Lenormant to the eighth Duke of Luynes (1802–1867).

Minor foxing, light creasing to the upper cover.

First and only illustrated edition with 12 engraved plates on India paper, under serpents.

Restored spine with minor tears, slight marginal tears on the boards, a crease on the corner of the second board, otherwise in pleasant interior condition.

The eighth Duke of Luynes (1802-1867) gained a significant reputation as an archaeologist, numismatist, and art collector.

Fourth edition after the original of 1577 published in Paris by Nicolas Chesneau and the edition by Abel L'Angelier printed in 1584. It is identical to the 1612 edition by Artus Thomas d'Embry, the first to contain engravings and to offer the four final texts. It is illustrated with a large folding plan of Constantinople, a double plate captioned « Portraict de l'Armée de l'Empereur Turc rangée en Bataille », 17 plates for the prophetic tableaux, 62 full-page engravings representing the different inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire (men and women) and 27 plates of portraits of Turkish personalities. Repeated title-frontispiece. Title pages in red and black.
Contemporary full brown calf...

New edition printed in 55 copies only (see publisher's foreword).

Only one copy of this edition listed in the CCF (BnF).

Contemporary temporary binding in full cherry paper boards, flat spine without lettering, minor rubbing to the binding.

Foxing, restorations to the head and tail of the spine, lower corners worn, a dampstain to the lower outer corner of the final leaves.

The text of Horace is in Latin only.

This rare folio edition was preceded in 1815 and 1818 by two small-format printings intended for student use.

The aim was to bring together in a single small volume the two principal sources of taste in versification, as upheld by classical...

First edition illustrated with four plates of medals and one folding map with hand-colored outlines.

Contemporary half chocolate-brown sheep bindings, smooth spines slightly faded and decorated with triple gilt fillets, gilt letter "N" at foot of spines, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges.

Minor rubbing to spines, occasional foxing.

A senior tax official, Baron de Nervo (1810–1897) authored several works on financial history, but was also an eclectic traveler: his account of a journey to Sicily undertaken in 1833 is decidedly uncommon.

First edition, illustrated with a portrait of the author after Sir Thomas Lawrence in the text volume, and, in the atlas volume, with 1 engraved map (numbered 1) and 74 lithographed plates (numbered 2 to 75; plate 27 misnumbered 17), including 8 hand-coloured plates: plates 28 (Fresco of Dieudonné de Gozon), 41 (Tomb of Fabrice Caretti), and 61 to 66 (Frescoes from the crypts of Our Lady of Philerme).

See Atabey 1056. Blackmer 1450. Loukia Droulia 1474. Weber, I, 163.

Text volume bound in contemporary green half shagreen, spine with four raised bands adorned with gilt garlands and floral tools, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, rubbed corners; atlas volume in...

First edition of this work published "by order of His Majesty the Emperor and under the supervision of the Minister of Public Instruction" (cf. Leclerc (1878) 2283).

The first volume is illustrated with 70 colour-printed plates, all hors-texte.

Contemporary half red shagreen bindings, spine with four raised bands adorned with double gilt fillets and floral gilt tooling, gilt decorative rolls at head and foot, some rubbing, cloth boards with blind-stamped borders and central device, bindings of the period.

Some rubbing to boards, water stains to the upper corners affecting the first 10 leaves of both volumes, one quire in the first volume becoming loose, boards slightly...

Very rare first edition of the French translation, partially unpublished, enriched with historical, geographical, and botanical notes, as well as a notice on ancient and modern Cyrenaica, the Kingdom of Fezzan, Timbuktu, the oasis of Siwah (the ancient Ammon Oasis and the Temple of Jupiter), the desert wind, the sacred ibis, the lotus, Egyptian papyrus, and the silphium so highly prized by the Ancients.

Illustrated with 8 plates and 1 folding map out of text.

Not recorded by Gay. Bourquelot V, 657 mentions only 7 plates and 1 map.

Contemporary-style binding in black half calf, flat spine decorated with double blind fillets, marbled paper boards, red edges. Modern binding...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies on laid paper, extracted from the Journal asiatique; a single copy recorded in the CCF (Strasbourg).

Rare copy preserved in its original blue paper wrappers, as issued.

Traces of a label on the left margin of the front cover, a pleasing copy overall.

Inscribed by Giovanni Antonio Arri on the upper cover to archaeologist Désiré Raoul-Rochette (1789–1854), then a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.

Rare first edition, privately printed in small numbers, of this offprint from the Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société archéologique de Constantine, vol. XXIV.

Only two copies recorded in the French collective catalogue (BnF and Lyon).

Vertical crease visible throughout the booklet.

Preserved in its original grey paper wrappers, without lettering, with the title and author's name handwritten in pencil.

A member of the Congregation of the White Fathers, particularly active in North Africa, Alfred-Louis Delattre (1850–1932) was first sent as a missionary to Algeria, later becoming chaplain of the Saint-Louis Church in Carthage, and eventually...

First edition of this occasional text, illustrated with 4 plates outside the text.

Spine faintly faded, a rare and attractive copy.

Archbishop of Algiers from 1867, Charles Lavigerie (1825–1892) would become in 1884 Primate of Africa through his exceptional accumulation of titles, including the restored See of Carthage.

He took an early interest in the excavations of the Carthage site.

First edition of the bilingual Greek-Latin text of Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras by Ludolf Küster from the manuscript held at the Laurentian Library. The facing Latin translation is the work of Frédéric Ulrich Obrecht and Konrad Rittershausen. Bound at the end is Porphyry’s Life of Pythagoras.

Illustrated with a large frontispiece portrait of Pythagoras, based on a coin from the collection of Fulvio Orsini.

Contemporary Dutch gilt-panelled vellum boards, spine with 5 raised bands and gilt ornaments with the arms of the city of Amsterdam, large gilt arms of the city of Amsterdam...

First edition of both these rare fascicules; the first is illustrated with three folding plates at the end of the volume, the second with in-text illustrations.

Contemporary half bottle-green calf binding, smooth spine gilt with fillets and dotted rolls, as well as black fillets, some minor rubbing to joints, headcap worn, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.

One of only three known contributions to the nascent field of Assyriology by the Austrian numismatist and traveller Isidore Löwenstern (1810–1858), who served as Danish consul in Constantinople.

Bound with, by the same author: Exposé des éléments constitutifs du système de la...

Composite copy: the first volume corresponds to the second American edition, which is partially original (with the shortened title Incidents of Travel in Yucatan), while the second is the first edition (with the full title); the text of the first volume being expanded compared to the 1841 edition. This title, originally printed in 15,000 copies, was a tremendous success and saw numerous reprints between 1841 and the author’s death in 1852 (cf. Sabin 91 297 and 91 299).

Illustrated with 96 engravings distributed as follows: 54 illustrations (some full-page in-text), including 21 plates out of text (among them a folding map and a folding frontispiece) for the first volume...

First edition (cf. Loukia Droulia 1817, Contominas 595, Blackmer 1372. Not in Atabey.)

Contemporary half blond calf, spine with five false raised bands adorned with gilt garlands, gilt tooling in compartments and blind fillets, gilt rolls at head and foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges.

Scattered foxing.

Before becoming the well-known historian and committed republican, Edgar Quinet (1803–1875) was part of the short-lived scientific commission of the Morea in 1829.

This volume records his impressions, with the second part titled De la Nature et de l'Histoire dans leurs rapports avec les Traditions Religieuses et...

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a lithographed frontispiece portrait, six engraved plates by Ambroise Tardieu, and a large folding map, all outside the text (cf. Schwab, p.48, no. 360).

Some foxing, mainly affecting the beginnings and ends of the volumes, otherwise a handsome and attractively bound copy.

Contemporary binding in half aubergine shagreen, spines slightly faded, with five raised bands, decorated with black fillets and gilt floral tools, gilt dates at foot, marbled paper-covered boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, a few surface abrasions.

The original edition, A History of Persia, was first...

First edition of the French translation of this remarkable study originally published in Vienna in the *Mines de l'Orient*.

The work, translated and enriched with observations and explanatory notes, followed by a dissertation on the location of the Pallacopas by J. Raimond, is illustrated with six folding plates at the end (rather than four, as stated on the title page).

Contemporary binding in green half sheep, spine slightly faded, gilt-stamped with a sphinx, gilt title, cat's-eye marbled paper-covered boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding.

Some foxing, mainly affecting the opening leaves.

Rich provides "une description très détaillée...

First edition, with no copies printed on deluxe paper.

A pleasing copy.

Signed autograph inscription from Yves Coppens to Emile Noël.

First edition, one of the review copies.

A handsome copy, complete with the wraparound band: "Les rois mages racontés par Michel Tournier".

Inscribed and signed by Michel Tournier to the Belgian literary critic Pol Vandromme: "Pour Pol Vandromme en toute amitié."

The rare first edition, illustrated with 100 in-text figures of medals, each showing obverse and reverse. Of the three parts that were to appear successively, only this one was published, Le Menestrier's death having put an end to this work. The work was not even put on sale; the author only distributed a few copies around him. It is therefore very rare to come across this edition. The 1642 edition entitled Medales illustrées des anciens Empereurs et Impératrices de Rome is the same work to which the publisher Paillot added the Médailles des impératrices from a manuscript he had purchased from the heirs. Jean-Baptiste Le Menestrier, antiquarian, should not be confused with the heraldist...

New edition, revised, corrected, enlarged, and illustrated with engravings.

Contemporary half brown morocco over marbled boards, corners preserved, spine with five raised bands showing a few minor rubs, gilt date at foot, gilt fillet border to the boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, all edges gilt, an elegant binding signed by Pierson.

A few occasional and unobtrusive spots of foxing.

A handsome copy, attractively bound.

New edition of Jacques Amyot's French translation, illustrated with charming engravings, one of 50 copies printed on vellum paper.

Contemporary blue half morocco over marbled boards, smooth spine richly tooled in gilt within decorative compartments, gilt date at foot, gilt fillet border to the boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt, an attractive unsigned binding.

This edition was revised and expanded by Paul-Louis Courier.

First edition, with no deluxe paper copies issued, this being one of the publisher's review copies.

Inscribed copy, dated and signed by Georges Dumézil to Alfred Ernoul.

First edition for which no deluxe paper copies were issued.

Spine slightly sunned with small losses at head and foot, a slight marginal loss and a transverse crease to the lower cover.

A rare copy of Alexandra David-Néel's second work.

A rare original edition, printed in a limited number of copies, of this extract from the Journal asiatique.

The work is illustrated with two folding plates at the end of the volume.

Contemporary half havana calf binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, rubbed joints, library classification label pasted at the head of the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges.

The Libyco-Punic monument of Dougga (Tunisia), also known as the Mausoleum of Atban, is one of the few well-preserved examples of Punic architecture still extant. It bore a bilingual inscription (Libyco / Punic) which was clumsily removed from the monument in 1842 by the British...

First edition illustrated at the end of the volume with 2 folding engraved plates by Gobille after drawings by Guillet, depicting an ancient theatre and a plan of Athens with its surroundings (cf. Blackmer 766. Weber 364. Brunet, Table, 22855.)

Contemporary full brown sheep binding, spine with four raised bands decorated with compartments tooled in gilt, now very rubbed, restorations to the spine and covers.

First historiographer of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, to which he was admitted in 1682, Guillet de Saint-George (Thiers, circa 1625 - Paris, 1705) became known through several writings, the principal ones relating to Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

First edition of the final work devoted to the Canary Islands by the zoologist and ethnographer Sabin Berthelot (1794-1880), whose first stay in the islands dates back to 1820.

From that time onward, he resided for the most part in Tenerife and devoted himself to the study of his adopted country.

At the end of the volume, the work is illustrated with 20 plates printed outside the text, some with coloured subjects.

A few minor spots of foxing.

First edition, one of 200 numbered copies on Japanese vellum, the deluxe issue.

Illustrated with 3 engravings and 1 map.

Brown half shagreen morocco binding with corner pieces; spine with five raised bands ruled in black, gilt date at foot; minor rubbing to the spine; marbled paper sides; marbled endpapers and pastedowns; original wrappers and spine preserved; corners slightly bumped; gilt top edge.

A pleasing copy.

A fine edition complete with all 12 steel engravings with tissue guards after paintings by Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Philippe de Champaigne, and Hyacinthe Rigaud, and its chromolithographic title page. Leafs containing the Discourse on Universal History  framed by floral, zoomorphic, figural and armorial interlaced borders. This copy is further enhanced with elaborate decorated initials and tailpieces, and a black-and-white frontispiece opening each part.

Copy comprising two translations in first edition by M. de Marolles, Abbé de Villeloin. Charming allegorical engraved title-page depicting the authors and their works, the latter represented as two mischievous cherub-satyrs. Several headpieces, some with coats of arms, tailpieces, and decorated initials with floral and figural motifs.

Contemporary binding in full brown calf, spine with four gilt raised bands, decorated with four compartments with gilt fleurons and roulettes, double gilt fillet framing the...

Complete copy comprising two translations by Nicolas Perrot d'Ablancourt, whose works are commonly known as "belles infidèles" (beautiful but unfaithful translations). Between 1662 and 1795, no other translation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War was published. The privilege granted to the bookseller Clousier in 1712 was shared among several booksellers, including Michel-Étienne David, Nicolas Gosselin, and Jean-Geoffroy Nyon.

Contemporary full brown calf, gilt spines with five raised bands and four compartments decorated with plain and dotted fillets enclosing fleuron tools, tan morocco lettering-pieces, numbering-pieces within gilt...

First edition of the French translation by Grauert from the 1835 German first edition, specially revised by the author (hence the somewhat ambiguous designation of "new edition" on the title page and front board, as there was no previous French edition).

Illustrated with five engraved plates and eight vignette illustrations.

Contemporary half black calf with corners, spine with four raised bands decorated with gilt and blind fillets, slight rubbing to the spine, gilt fillet frames to the marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original pink wrappers preserved, bookplate pasted to a pastedown, contemporary binding signed J. Pernot at the foot of the spine.

First edition.

Minor foxing, a pleasing copy.

The Roman jeweller Alessandro Castellani (1823–1883) was also an enlightened collector of ancient and medieval artefacts, from which he sometimes drew inspiration for his jewellery designs.

Jean de Witte (1808–1889), archaeologist and numismatist, became a member of the Institut in 1886.

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...

First edition (only three copies recorded in the CCFr: BnF, Lyon and Montpellier).

Blank spine split with small losses, a few instances of foxing.

The sole edition of this small, learned and appealing dissertation.

Paul Saint-Olive (1799–1879), engraver and contributor to the Revue du Lyonnais, was a tireless seeker of curiosities (cf. Vingtrinier (Aimé): Paul Saint-Olive, archéologue lyonnais, Lyon, 1877).

Signed autograph inscription by Paul Saint-Olive to Doctor Girard on the inside of the upper cover.

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.

First edition.

Green half morocco with corners, spine with five raised bands and blind-tooled compartments, a few rubs to the spine, marbled paper sides, comb-marbled endpapers and doublures, sprinkled edges, contemporary binding.

Georges Perrot (1832–1914), a French Hellenist and archaeologist, undertook in 1861, together with the architect Edmond Guillaume and the travelling physician Jules Delbet, a scientific and literary mission to Greece and Asia Minor on behalf of the French Ministry of Public Instruction, the results of which were published in 1872.

He would later be the author, with Charles Chipiez, of the monumental Histoire de l'art dans l'Antiquité, Égypte...

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...

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...

Rare first edition (the work was reissued at least once, in 1833) of this historical compendium arranged in detailed tabular form, increasingly precise in its treatment of contemporary events (Revolution, Empire, Restoration).

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers.

Minor tears with small losses to the spines, a dampstain to the final free endpaper, light foxing, staining to the lower cover.

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 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.

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...

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.

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...

Original offprint, printed in a small number of copies, of this extract from the Nouvelles annales des voyages for November 1858.

The original temporary front wrapper has been reattached; a few spots of foxing; the title written in pencil on the front cover.

No copy of this review recorded in the CCF.

Charles-Ernest Beulé’s monograph on the coinage of Athens had just been published earlier that same year, in 1858.

Second edition (cf. Quérard I, 529: records “Broussonnet”. Colas 457.)

Reflections on fashion and elegant dress in antiquity; the first edition, published in 1799, appeared under the name of one of the author’s pupils. 

Rare copy preserved in the original wrappers.

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...