16th-18th centuries: humanism, religious wars, Renaissance to Enlightenment society, history, letters and arts of the Ancien Régime

New edition.

Our copy is preserved in its original temporary binding, with marbled-paper wrappers. (cf. Sabin 6327.)

Marbled-paper spine lacking, abrasions to the marbled-paper covers, and a dampstain to the upper left corner of the volume, gradually diminishing through the text.

We follow the attribution given by Hoefer and Sabin for this uncommon pamphlet, a critique of the theories of Cornelijs de Pauw. Its authorship remains uncertain: Pierre Poivre (1719-1786) has been proposed, as has Antoine-François Pernety (1716-1796), probably through confusion with his Dissertation sur l'Amérique et les Américains of 1769; both attributions continue to find favour...

Reunion of three highly sought-after first editions, most notably the last, printed in a very small number of copies, on the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain between 1609 and 1614, written by Marcos de Guadalajara y Javier and Juan Ripol. 

Volume bearing the royal and Jesuit arms, and woodcut initials with foliate and figural designs, after the macabre engravings of Hans Lützelburger. Woodcut-engraved border on the first and third title pages, elegant double black-ruled frame around the text. 

A superb copy bringing...

Rare first edition under this title, complete with the engraved title-page. The first edition of 1607, Remonstrance faicte au Roy Très Chrétien pour la réunion des religions à la foy catholique, was printed in Tournon in only 96 pages. This second edition, of which there were probably two issues from the same bookseller, was substantially revised and enlarged by the author.

Contemporary limp vellum with turn-ins, smooth spine, faded ink manuscript title to spine, original ties present...

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.

A single copy recorded in the CCFr (Roanne).

Contemporary half green calf, smooth spine cracked and with losses, marbled paper boards, original printed wrappers preserved, binding of the period.

Lower board tending to detach.

The Venetian historian Ronaldo Fulin (1824–1884) produced numerous publications and original studies based on the exceptionally rich holdings of the Archivio di Stato of Venice.

The question addressed in this communication is linked to the presumed relations between Columbus and Venice (see the accompanying letters).

Copy from the library of the celebrated Americanist Henry Harrisse (1829–1910), a specialist...

Letter written by a secretary and signed by Louis XVI, addressed to Cardinal Ludovico Calini, in ink over eleven lines. The signature of Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, appearing at the foot of the bifolium, accompanies that of the King for these New Year wishes. The recipient's name is inscribed on the verso: "Mon Cousin le Cardinal Calino".

A few waterstains, a small hole at "qu'il vous ait".

"My Cousin, I have seen with pleasure from your letter of October 1st the token of the sincerity of the wishes you express for me at the beginning of this year. Your good intentions are as well known to me as you must be certain of my desire to give you...

Third edition, revised, corrected, and enlarged with several important Additions by the author published posthumously, and with Remarks by the Translator (our own translation), with the portrait of John Locke by Godfrey Kneller, engraved by François Morellon de La Cave.

Contemporary full brown calf, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments, brown morocco lettering-piece, triple fillet border to covers in blind, red edges, marbled pastedowns and endpapers.

Headcaps missing, surface...

Very rare first edition (125 copies printed according to Quérard) of this remarkable exposition of Talma’s dramaturgical principles, still regarded as a “revolutionary” actor despite his immense success (his friendship with Napoleon never wavered); the text was inserted the same year, 1825, at the beginning of the new edition of the Memoirs of Henri-Louis Caïn, known as Lekain (1729–1778), who was still considered in the early nineteenth century as one of the greatest tragedians of the eighteenth century.

See Quérard IX, 333.

Scattered foxing.

Full cherry-red long-grain morocco, smooth spine tooled with gilt fillets, garlands and fleurons, gilt rolls at head and tail...

First edition of the French translation and notes prepared by Billecocq (cf. Sabin, 41879; Leclerc, 943; Field, 947; Howes, 443; Staton-Trenlaine, Bibliogr. of Canadiana, 597 for the original edition).

Half mottled calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt tools, brown shagreen title-piece, marbled paper boards slightly darkened and faded at the edges, red edges; modern binding.

Stamp on the half-title, a light marginal dampstain affecting the outer margins of the final leaves.

Illustrated with a folding copper-engraved map by P. F. Tardieu, “Des pays situés à l'ouest du Canada”.

“The interest of the work lies in the detailed and relatively objective...

First edition, illustrated with four tinted plates, including a frontispiece (cf. O'Reilly & Reitman, Tahiti, 6452).

Contemporary half plum sheep, the spine faded and decorated with gilt garlands and floral tools, some rubbing to the spine, marbled-paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, a few worn spots along the edges.

Scattered foxing, the plates evenly toned.

The work offers a history of the island, written in the aftermath of its annexation following the cession of his domains by King Pomare V. It provides an overview of the voyages of Quirós, Wallis, Bougainville and Cook, a portrait of Tahitian life a century earlier, and a sketch of the island’s...

New illustrated edition featuring two lithographed plates out of text and enriched with notes by Francisco de S. Luiz (cf. Brunet I, p. 263; Graesse I, p. 118).

Modern binding in half Havana calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt and black fillets and black floral motifs, black shagreen title piece, marbled paper boards, red edges.

A few light foxing spots, mainly at the beginning of the volume.

This biography, rightly celebrated, met with great success upon publication.

First edition of each volume.

The first work lacks its map, while the second retains it.

Full marbled blond calf binding, smooth spines decorated with gilt floral and scroll motifs, red calf title labels, gilt fillet borders on the covers, gilt roll tooling along the edges, cat’s-eye endpapers and pastedowns, green edges, contemporary binding.

Restorations to the spines, joints fragile, repairs to the title leaves, handwritten notes at the head of the first page of text in each volume.

Paris, Bellizard, Barthès, Dufour and Lowell, 1835-1843. Eighteen octavo text volumes and one folio atlas.

First edition in French of Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall's Histoire de l'Empire ottoman depuis son origine jusqu'à nos jours, translated by J.-J. Hellert "from the German, using the author's notes and under his supervision". Publication began in 1835, the same year in which the ten-volume German original was completed, making this the first transmission into French of Hammer's monumental history of the Ottoman Empire. Atabey, 557 for the text and 569 for the atlas; Blackmer, 788 for the atlas; Hage...

New edition, partly original, revised, corrected and enlarged.

Bound in full red morocco, spines with five raised bands decorated with gilt garlands and compartments adorned with crowned “LL” monograms, gilt rolls on the caps, triple gilt fillets framing the covers, gilt armorial stamps of Louis XV at the centre of each board, gilt dentelle border on the turn-ins, gilt fillets along the edges, marbled edges. Slightly rubbed corners. Contemporary bindings.

Some leaves slightly yellowed, minor paper flaw on page 101 of the second volume.

Extensive and highly useful table of contents at the end of the second volume. Jean-Antoine Soulatges, lawyer at the Parliament of...

First edition of this periodical, comprising for the complete year 1781 (from 2 January to 28 December) 104 issues, the text printed in two columns with continuous pagination.

Contemporary half calf, mottled fawn, smooth spines decorated with gilt compartment tooling and floral ornaments, beige calf lettering-pieces and blue calf volume labels; minor losses and rubbing to spines and joints, a few scuffs to the blue paper boards, bumped corners, red edges; bindings contemporary to publication.

Transposition of ff. 357–58 and 359–60; initials in black ink and numbering to the endpapers; bookplate affixed and marginally torn in the first volume, another bookplate covered over in...

A rare first edition, of which no subsequent reprint exists, complete with all his Neo-Latin poems, chiefly composed in Rome. The volume also contains two Greek poems at ff. 60 and 62, together with a poem which inspired the celebrated sonnet Happy he who like Ulysses.

Modern binding in full limp vellum, smooth spine, red edges, white pastedowns and endleaves.

Some defects within: discreet restoration to inner margin of title verso; small tear without loss at foot of ff. 2-3; dampstaining to lower margin of ff. 25-28 and 45-48; minimal marginal defect to f. 44, not affecting...

Very rare first edition of the Ottoman Turkish translation of Catherine II's new regulations for the administration of the governorates of the Russian Empire, published in Saint Petersburg in 1780.

In the aftermath of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, signed in 1774, Russian expansion towards the Black Sea could no longer be confined to the seizure of fortresses and territory. The newly acquired provinces had to be governed, their inhabitants introduced to the institutions of the Empire, and its regulations made accessible to populations unable to read Russian. The present volume records this decisive transition from military conquest to civil administration through the...

Very rare edition (cf. Saffroy III, 35 251).

Disbound copy, with a faint dampstain in the left margin of the title-page and a few insignificant spots of foxing.

This separately published tract was later inserted into the first volume of the celebrated *Histoire généalogique de la maison d’Auvergne* (1708).

Appended here, detached from the first volume and forming the origin of the controversy: [BALUZE, MABILLON et RUINART]: Procez verbal. Contenant l'examen & discussion de deux anciens cartulaires & de l'obituaire de l'église de saint Julien de Brioude en Auvergne, de neuf anciens titres compris en sept feüillets de parchemin, & de dix autres anciens feüillets...

Rare first bilingual edition of the cahier of grievances of the Third Estate of Corsica, printed in Bastia in 1789 by Étienne Batini, “Printer to the King and to the General Assembly of the Three Orders”. One quarto volume of 75 pages on laid paper. The French text, printed in roman type, faces its Italian translation in italic under the title Quaderno delle doglianze, dimande, e rappresentazioni dell’Ordine del Terzo Stato dell’Isola di Corsica. The title-page bears a vignette of the arms of Corsica, a Moor’s head surmounted by a royal crown and supported by two winged genii; an ornamental initial...

First edition published anonymously, the work of the Bayonne man of letters Coste d'Arnobat (1732–1808), probably based on accounts provided by English merchants (cf. Barbier IV 1060).

Contemporary half sheep in dark brown, smooth spine tooled with gilt floral motifs, gilt initial “V” at the foot, some rubbing to spine and joints, a small marginal loss at the head of the spine, marbled paper boards, yellow sprinkled edges.

A dampstain affecting the folds of the final ten leaves.

An account of Bambouc, a region of Upper Senegal particularly noted for its gold mines and inhabited by the Mandinka people.

This narrative, later translated into German, offers highly...

First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with tables printed on two large folding plates included in the pagination (cf. Ferguson 2165a.)

Contemporary half bordeaux shagreen, the spine very lightly faded, with five raised bands framed by black fillets, marbled-paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers marginally soiled and showing small preserved restorations, edges untrimmed, modern binding signed Laurenchet.

Botany Bay, on the eastern coast of Australia, had been chosen in 1787 by the British government as a place of deportation. This study seeks to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of penal colonies at a time when the proposal to...

New edition, revised, corrected, and considerably enlarged.

Contemporary bindings in half mottled fawn calf over corners, smooth spines gilt with fillets, morocco title and volume labels, brown paper-covered boards, sprinkled edges.

Some minor rubbing to the spines, a few corners slightly bumped.

L'Esprit des lois occupies volumes I to IV; La Défense de l'Esprit des lois volume V (with a general index); Lettres persanes volume VI; volume VII gathers the Considérations and related pieces; volume VIII contains the posthumous works.

This collected edition of Montesquieu's works offers no particular bibliographical peculiarities in its...

Rare first edition (cf. Martin & Walter 25 395).

Contemporary half-sheepskin bindings, the spines smooth and gilt-ruled in double fillets, boards covered in rose-papered pasteboard, red sheepskin lettering-pieces and green volume labels, yellow edges; corners rubbed, bindings of the period.

Some rubbing and faint staining to the spines and boards with small losses to the rose paper, a tiny hole at the head of the spine of the first volume, scattered foxing and a few marks to the edges, not affecting the text.

Bound at the end of volume II is another work by the same author: "Appel au tribunal de l'opinion publique. Du rapport de M. Chabroud, et du décret rendu par...

Very rare first edition (cf. Monglond VII 661).

Contemporary half brown sheep with corners, smooth spine gilt with floral tools and fillets, rubbing to spine and joints, marbled paper boards, grey endpapers and pastedowns, corners softened, yellow edges.

Pleasant, clean interior.

A shadowy figure who was by turns (and at times simultaneously) a secret agent, Tallien’s associate, a Revolutionary pamphleteer, and a double agent under the Directory and the Empire, Méhée de La Touche (1762–1827) left in 1784 on a covert diplomatic mission to Poland and Russia, from which he was expelled at the end of 1791. The correspondence he publishes here (running from 1788 to July 1791)...

First edition (cf. Grand-Carteret, Almanachs, 158; Saffroy, Almanachs et annuaires, 306.)

Interleaved from page 46, with a few small spots of foxing.

Full old red morocco, smooth spine panelled and decorated with fleurons, triple gilt fillet border on covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt roll-tooled edges, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

Minor rubbing to the upper cover and a tiny hole to one joint.

Copy from the libraries of Raymond-Jean-François Laplagne-Barris (1786–1857), magistrate and Peer of France, and of heraldist Olivier Le Bas, with their bookplates pasted on the front pastedown and first endpaper.

New edition.

Half calf binding in tan, spine with five raised bands tooled in gilt with gilt compartments decorated with floral motifs, blond calf title label, green paper boards with scratches, some rubbing to edges, red edges, contemporary binding.

Spine restored and rubbed, tear without loss to the head of pages 33–34 and 35–36, ink marginal note on the title page, which has been trimmed by the binder.

The first edition of Recherches sur l'origine du despotisme oriental dates from 1761, and the text was extensively revised by Baron d’Holbach to reflect his atheistic views, as he was in fact the editor of all the works attributed to Boulanger, who died in...

First edition of this very rare memorandum advocating the establishment of a Chair of Natural Law at the Collège d’Autun (entrusted to the lawyer Bouheret).

No copies recorded in either CCFr or WorldCat.

The authors of this Dijon-printed text, mindful of their educational mission, examine the Utility of Natural Law from several perspectives—Religion, Government, and the various orders of society. They refer to Abbé Gédouin and his Dissertation sur l’éducation, to Mably’s Entretiens de Phocion, and to La Chalotais’s Essai d’Éducation nationale ou Plan d’études pour la jeunesse, both published the previous year. Burlamaqui’s Principes du droit...

First edition, one of 45 numbered copies on Holland paper, the deluxe issue.

Full chocolate-brown morocco binding, spine with five raised bands framed with black fillets, date gilt at foot, gilt rolls on the caps, marbled paper endpapers and doublures, gilt double fillet borders on the doublures, gilt fillets along the edges, original wrappers and spine preserved, all edges gilt, slipcase edged with matching chocolate morocco, sides in marbled paper, interior lined with grey felt. A splendid binding signed by Semet & Plumelle.

A very handsome copy, perfectly bound in full morocco by Semet & Plumelle.

First and only edition of the author's sole work.

Adorned with a fine engraved portrait of Jacques-Nicolas Colbert (1655–1707), youngest son of the minister and Archbishop of Carthage, to whom the book is dedicated.

Bound in full red morocco, spine with five raised bands, richly gilt compartments decorated with gilt fleurs-de-lys, gilt fillets, and Du Seuil-style panels on the covers; gilt tooling to headcaps and board edges, all edges gilt. Contemporary binding.

Some foxing, small wormholes at head and foot of spine, three black spots at the head of the upper cover.

Provenance: from the library of Alfred Massé (1911–1951), Radical-Socialist deputy for Nièvre under...

First edition of the French translation, based on the sixth English edition.

Copies listed in the CCF only at the BnF, Dijon, and Rouen libraries.

Our copy is preserved in its original state, in contemporary marbled paper wrappers.

The only edition of this curious political pamphlet, seemingly without any real connection to an English original, which proposes to reorganize Europe through joint—particularly military—control by the four principal continental powers (Austria, France, Spain, and Prussia) over all the others, in order to ensure peace and balance across the continent.

These prophetic, if still utopian, reflections are preceded by an analysis of Europe’s...

Le Havre, Montivilliers and various places, 1786-1797. Twenty-one separately printed pamphlets bound together in one quarto volume, 19.2 x 25 cm.

Rare sammelband assembled by Jean-Baptiste-Jacques L'Aignel himself from the printed fragments of the legal, economic and political work to which he devoted the final decades of his life. Prospectuses, prefaces, prolegomena, speeches and appendices had been issued separately, mostly in Le Havre or nearby Montivilliers, to accompany a much larger undertaking that was never to reach its intended final form. Gathered here by their author...

Very rare document on the so-called "Eau de Cologne," illustrated with a headpiece depicting the city of Cologne.

Written by Giovanni Antonio Farina (1718–1787), one of the heirs and successors of the inventor of the famous lotion, the Italian perfumer Giovanni Paolo Feminis (1660–1736), who had settled in Cologne.

Jean-Antoine Farina would later transmit the formula to his descendants, the last of whom, Jean-Marie Farina (1785–1864), successfully marketed the celebrated water during the first half of the 19th century.

This pamphlet details the various medicinal applications of Eau de Cologne (the names of the ailments are printed in capitals). "Il y a environ un...

First edition of the French translation by the Parisian jurist Luc de La Porte, doctor of law (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 12; Sabin 27780; Palau 105509; Alden, European Americana, 588/37; Leclerc [1878], 258; Streit IV, 1999; Atkinson, 339).

Paris, Jérémie Périer, 1588.

Two parts bound in one octavo volume: 12 unnumbered leaves, 112 leaves, 323 leaves - with errors in foliation - and 25 unnumbered leaves of table and errata.

First edition of the French translation prepared by Jean-Nicolas Jouin de Sausseul (see Quérard VII, 330, who erroneously lists 4 parts; Cioranescu XVIII, 59 618; not in Sabin).

Full mottled fawn calf binding, smooth spines divided into compartments and decorated with gilt fleurons, some rubbing, light brown morocco title labels, green morocco volume labels, gilt rolls slightly faded at the headcaps, single gilt fillet framing the boards, gilt fillets along the edges, bumped corners, red edges, contemporary bindings.

Two small patches of missing leather to the lower cover of the second volume.

The original English edition appeared in 1781 under the title Emma...

First edition.

Only one copy listed in the CCF (BnF).

Bradel binding in full marbled paper boards, smooth spine, green shagreen title label with a small loss, modern binding.

Very rare report of the administration of the "Argenterie, Menus-Plaisirs et affaires de la chambre", which under the Ancien Régime formed part of the King's Household, in charge of the "King’s pleasures"—that is, the organization of court ceremonies and entertainments.

Compiled from 393 records (and 21,000 invoices).

By drastically reducing the expenses of his household, Louis XVI retained only a single “Maître des Menus-Plaisirs”, endowed with a budget infinitely smaller than that of...

Second edition of the French translation prepared by François-Victor Hugo.

Half red shagreen bindings, slightly faded spines with four raised bands numerously framed in gilt and central gilt tooled motif, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges, contemporary bindings.

Some occasional foxing, minor black specks on a few spines, upper corners of volume 10 slightly damaged.

Our set, attractively bound uniformly in contemporary bindings, is complete in 18 volumes including the often lacking final three volumes of apocryphal writings.

Third edition, the second issued under this title, partly original as it includes several new memoirs and the general tariff of Holland.

See Sabin 47557. Cioranescu 35613. Kress 3019. Not in Goldsmiths or Einaudi. See INED 2306 for the "Grand trésor historique et politique du florissant commerce des Hollandois" (1712).

Amsterdam, Du Villard, Changuion, 1718, 8vo,

Full mottled tan calf, spine with raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, garlands and floral tools (partly faded), red morocco title label, gilt rolls at the head and tail, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillet on board edges, red edges, one lower corner bumped, others slightly rubbed, contemporary...

Second, enlarged edition of these rather protectionist ideas, which prompted Dupont de Nemours to write a refutation (Lettre à la Chambre de commerce de Normandie).

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, now covered with modern marbled paper, red edges.

The second part is entitled Plan d'une banque nationale de France, ou d'une caisse générale de recettes & paiements des deniers publics & particuliers, and bears the Jersey imprint, 1787. Frère I, 210 (for the first edition of 1787).

First edition of this important work, cf. Krivatsy 588. Garrison-Morton 1673, 5047 and 5085.

Full stiff ivory vellum, spine with four raised bands, the author’s name handwritten in black ink, one defect on the fourth band, blind-tooled rolls on the headcaps, gilt fillets highlighting the raised bands and framing the covers, small vellum losses on the covers, losses at the corners of the first and last endpaper, edges sprinkled red, contemporary binding.

Bound with this work are three further treatises by Guillaume de Baillou, all printed by Quesnel in 1640. Krivatsy, describing a...

Rare French first edition, translation by Butel-Dumont.

Full brown sheep binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt and tooled compartments, modern red morocco lettering-piece, restored tear and wear to the spine, one joint split at foot, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to board edges, rubbed corners, contemporary binding.

The Acadia map is missing from our copy. It is extremely rare and is only found in a few copies. Sabin 35958. Leclerc 732.

Bookplate of the Marquis de Bassano pasted on a pastedown.

Illustrated edition with 2 folding maps and 10 engraved plates outside the text (see Garrison & Morton 71; DSB 613-614).

Contemporary full marbled calf binding, spine with six raised bands decorated with double black panels stamped with blind typographic motifs, burgundy shagreen title label, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges.

Some restoration to the binding, spine rebacked; evidence of waterstaining to the upper margins of the leaves in the second volume.

Giovanni Maria Lancisi (1654–1720), an Italian physician trained at the University of Rome, produced significant work on mosquitoes and malaria (he introduced the term), as well as on cardiovascular...

Remarkable collection of 19 letters patent transcribing into French law what had originally been the outcome of diplomatic conventions; the sovereignties concerned are as follows, arranged in chronological order of the letters patent: I. Imperial City of Reutlingen (January 1775, 6 pp.). – II. Principality of Nassau-Weilburg (26 April 1776, 23 pp.). – III. Electorate of Saxony (1 September 1776, 10 pp.). – IV. Republic of Ragusa (October 1776, 7 pp.). – V. Principality of Nassau-Usingen (10 June 1777, 8 pp.). – VI. Duchy of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg (15 August 1778, 11 pp.). – VII. Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (15 August 1778, 12 pp.). – VIII. Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (15 August 1778, 12...

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; no copy recorded in the CCF or Worldcat, with a single copy held at the Real Academia Española.

Full red shagreen portfolio, smooth spine without lettering, double gilt and blind-tooled fillet borders with gilt garlands and rosettes at the corners on the covers, gilt title lettered in the center of the upper cover, moiré white silk endleaves and pastedowns, contemporary binding.

Inscribed and signed by Albertus Frederik Johan Reiger to Baron Joseph Louis Heinrich Alfred Gericke van Herwynen (1814–1899), Minister of the King of the Netherlands to the Court of Brussels, accompanied by an autograph signed note addressed to the same, dated 12 December 1881...

New edition bringing together, in addition to Cortés's own correspondence, a collection of documents relating to the conquest of Peru, including letters addressed to the conquistador by his principal lieutenants (cf. Palau 63 205. Leclerc 2575.)

A pupil of Silvestre de Sacy in Arabic, Pascual de Gayangos y Arce (1809-1897) was one of the foremost Spanish orientalists of the nineteenth century; his research was chiefly devoted to Muslim history.

Spine cracked with small losses, a tear at the upper left corner of the front cover, some foxing, tears and marginal losses to the rear cover.

Rare first edition illustrated with 9 plates, including a large folding map.

Publisher’s binding in full havana cloth, smooth spine decorated in black, vignette of a ship within a double black circle on the upper cover, black endpapers and pastedowns, joints split, corners slightly rubbed.

The author was a former officer of the 90th Light Infantry Regiment and wrote several works on various military subjects.

Manuscript ex-libris of R. B. Knight on the half-title, blue ink stains on the edges at the beginning of the volume.

First edition. Adorned with headpieces, initials, and illustrated with 16 folding tables, 3 in the first volume and 13 in the second, together with a great number of tables on single leaves. Title pages printed in red and black.
Contemporary full polished and marbled brown calf binding. Spine with raised bands, gilt compartments. Red morocco title label. Volume labels in wax, rubbed and illegible. Triple blind fillet framing on the covers. Red marbled edges. Headcaps worn. Loss to the tail of volume II. Joints of volume I split at head and tail. Upper joint of volume I tightly split along its full length and lower joint split at head and tail. Several corners bumped. Spines rubbed...

Rare first edition.

Small tears and corner losses to the spine and boards.

Signed autograph inscription from Joseph Louis Trouessart to Sainte-Beuve on the half-title.

First edition (cf. Sabin 47206. Leclerc 952.).

Some joints cracked at head and tail, minor marginal losses of no consequence to the temporary wrappers.

The author, Italian by birth, emigrated to America before the Revolution and settled in Virginia near Monticello.

His book, written in collaboration with Condorcet, is of particular interest with regard to the history of independence and the government of the United States, cf. Fay pages 24-25: "Compilation très exacte, qui réfute les théories de Mably et de Raynal et constitue un répertoire précieux de renseignements de tous ordres sur les États-Unis."

Rare and appealing copy preserved in its original...

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.

Very rare first edition illustrated at the end with 4 folding plates (cf Quérard VII, 190).

Modern binding in half mottled sheep with small vellum corners, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, red morocco title-piece, marbled paper boards.

The author was a lawyer and architect in Lunéville.

Chapters on fire, the causes of fires, stoves and chimneys, floors, partitions, staircases, roofing, etc.

Pleasant copy.

First edition, cf Conlon 17:710. Quérard VII, 455 ("Cette Dissertation est très-estimée").

Full marbled blond calf, spine with five raised bands richly gilt in compartments decorated with gilt bees, red morocco lettering-piece, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillet on board edges, mottled edges, contemporary binding.

Lower corner rubbed, endpapers partially browned.

Notable treatise on the two great English political parties, their history, development, and respective positions.

Rare first edition of the French translation prepared by Thomas-François Dalibard at the request of the Comte de Buffon (cf Wheeler Gift 367d. Waller 11339. DSB V, pp. 129-139).

Full mottled calf, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with double gilt compartments with floral tools, red morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls on the caps (partly rubbed), restorations to head and tail of spine as well as to the corners of the boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on the edges, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

Some foxing, a dampstain to the upper right corner of the first endpaper.

The English first edition was published in London in...

Second edition of the French translation (Sabin 98442).

Bound in modern pastiche half beige calf, smooth spines ruled in gilt with double fillets, red morocco title labels and brown morocco volume labels, marbled paper boards.

The final two leaves of volume two have been restored, with loss of text: a few letters are missing from page 381, and there is a loss of text on pages 383–384, which comprise the table of contents; occasional light spotting, blind stamps to the lower right corner of title-pages.

Complete set including the atlas, sixth and final volume, illustrated with 17 plates and 9 maps.

A handsome copy of this celebrated voyage of exploration through the...

First edition of this important work on Marseille's colonial trade, published anonymously in Avignon in 1764 under the designation "par un Citadin" [by a Citizen]. The work has long been attributed to Chambon, described by the Bibliothèque nationale as a collector for the royal tax farms, while Barbier identifies him as a receiver-general of finances.

Two volumes, quarto. Volume I: engraved title, 4 unnumbered leaves comprising title, advertisement and table of chapters, 615 pp., with errata on the verso of the...

Rare first edition (cf. Polak, 1808; Quérard, II, 133. Not in Crowne Library. Absent from Brunet.) Contemporary full marbled calf, spines with five raised bands framed by gilt fillets and decorated with gilt double compartments and ornamental tools, red morocco lettering-pieces, marbled endpapers, gilt edge-rolls and red edges. Some early restoration to the joints; gilding at the spine ends and on the numbering-piece of the second volume partly faded. Occasional foxing; final leaves and endpapers of both volumes lightly toned in the margins.

At a time when American privateers were being fitted out in French ports and their captures were raising...

Autograph letter signed by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres to Charles Paillet, with autograph address and title "Honorary Expert Commissioner of the Royal Museums", with postal stamps. Usual fold marks. A marginal tear repaired without affecting the text.

Ingres provides descriptions and exhibition instructions for his two paintings Aretino and the Ambassador of Charles V and Aretino in the Studio of Tintoretto.

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a folding map in the first volume (see Cordier, Sinica, 2094; Quérard I, 260; not in Schwab or Atabey. Blackmer (111) owned only the English edition: Travels from St. Petersburg in Russia, to diverse parts of Asia, Glasgow, 1763).

Contemporary full marbled calf bindings, spines with five raised bands richly gilt in double panels, brown or green morocco title-pieces (in the second volume), red morocco volume labels, gilt rolls on the caps, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to edges, marbled edges, some corners a bit rubbed.

Minor wormholes on the upper board of the first volume, light scuffing to...

First quarto edition, third issue (distinguished by the absence of the table of contents at the end; the other two issues present this table as 28 unnumbered leaves or 42 pages), cf. Polak 7161.

Each of the 23 books comprising the ordinance is separated from the preceding one by 8 blank leaves, likely intended for handwritten supplements or annotations, though these remain unused.

Full tan calf binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt compartments and tooling, tan leather title label, gilt rolls on the somewhat faded caps, name of a former owner gilt-stamped on upper board, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets partially faded along the edges, red edges...

First edition of the French translation by Jean-Baptiste Dupuy-Demportes of the work originally published in 1689 under the title "La Morale dei principi osservata nell'istoria di tutti gl'imperadori, che regnarono in Roma" (cf. Quérard II, 260. Barbier III, 353b. Conlon VII, 54-572. Hoefer XI, 314).

Contemporary full red morocco bindings, spines with five raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and double gilt panels with gilt floral tools, boards framed by gilt roll-tooled floral and bird motifs, gilt fillets on the board edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, all edges gilt over marbling.

Some gatherings bound out of sequence in volumes 1 and 3; headcap of...

First edition of the first of six publications addressing the state of the Corps of Bridges and Roads, presented to the National Constituent Assembly by Chaumont de La Millière (1746–1803), who served as director of the School from 1781 to 1792.

Contemporary half vellum binding with corners, flat spine with red morocco label, soft marbled paper boards showing some wear and losses from rubbing, yellow edges.

Two additional related publications have been bound at the end:

I. Supplément au Mémoire de M. de La Millière, sur le département des Ponts & Chaussées; ou Réponses à deux écrits relatifs à ce Mémoire, qui ont paru depuis sa publication. Paris, Imprimerie royale...

First edition (cf. Grand-Carteret, Almanachs, 158; Saffroy, Almanachs et annuaires, 306.)

Bound in full old red morocco, smooth spine decorated with fleur-de-lis panels, gilt roll tooling on the caps, triple gilt fillet framing on covers, gilt tooling along the edges, corners slightly rubbed, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

Date handwritten in black ink at the top of the upper cover.

This rather rare almanac was published continuously from 1744 to 1789.

Provenance: From the library of heraldist Olivier Le Bas, with his bookplate mounted on a pastedown.

First edition (Grand-Carteret, Almanachs, 158; Saffroy, Almanachs et annuaires, 306).

Contemporary full old red morocco binding, smooth spine decorated with fleur-de-lis panels, gilt roll-stamping on partially faded head- and tailcaps, triple gilt fillet borders on covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on board edges, all edges gilt.

Spine heavily rubbed with worn decorative motifs; upper cover rubbed along the left margin at the level of the triple gilt fillets.

This rather uncommon almanac appeared continuously from 1744 to 1789.

First edition of the French translation of the compilation entitled Historia de la dominacion de los Arabes en España sacada de varios manuscritos y memorias arabigas (Madrid, 1820–21), cf. Playfair 528. Palau 59020.

Contemporary bindings in black half sheepskin, flat spines decorated with gilt garlands and blind-tooled floral ornaments, gilt library shelfmark numbers at foot, vellum-tipped corners, headcaps rubbed on two volumes, covers in mottled paper, bookplates pasted on the endpapers, a few small chips to the upper edges and corners of the third volume, sprinkled edges.

Scattered foxing, minor rubbing to the bindings.

Copy from the library of Vittorio...

First edition, of great rarity (cf. Sabin 4182).

Bradel-style binding in full orange paper-covered boards, with a brown shagreen spine label; modern binding.

A very good copy.

A vindication of France’s conduct during the uprising of the British colonies in America.

First edition of this French translation prepared by Abbé J.B. Morvan de Bellegarde, who here renders six of the nine books of the celebrated Brevissima relación by Las Casas, first published in Seville in 1552 (cf. Sabin 11273. Medina BHA 1085n. Streit I:733. Palau 46966. JCB (4) 344-345. Leclerc 337. "European Americana" 697/33).

Contemporary full marbled calf binding, spine gilt in compartments with decorative tooling, red morocco label, gilt rolls to head and tail caps, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to board edges, red edges.

Minor repairs to joints, discreet restoration in the inner margin of the frontispiece.

A handsome copy.

Las...

First edition, bringing together in a single volume the three Persian sections issued by the Elzeviers at Leiden in 1639: the Historia Christi Persice conscripta and Historia S. Petri Persice, forming the two parts of a single publication, followed by Louis de Dieu's separately titled Rudimenta linguae Persicae. Backer & Sommervogel VIII, 1339-1340; Willems 490 and 477.

Contemporary full stiff vellum with overlapping edges, smooth spine with an early manuscript title partly faded at head, some staining to covers, red-speckled edges. Earlier booksellers' description labels mounted on a flyleaf. An attractive...

First edition of this significant work on the customary law of Maine. Divided into sixteen parts, it also includes two valuable alphabetical indexes: one listing the main subjects covered in this Custom of Maine as well as in the revised Customs of Anjou and Paris, and the other listing key subjects found in the remarks and observations on this custom.

Marginal dampstaining to a few leaves, occasional foxing.

Contemporary ownership inscription on the title page: Berthereau.

Contemporary full mottled calf, spine with six raised bands, gilt double compartments with decorative tooling, red morocco title label, gilt rolls on somewhat faded caps, marbled endpapers and...

Extremely rare Barcelona reissue of this day-by-day account of the Siege of Buda, printed in 1686, the same year as the Seville first edition, but reset throughout in a completely different typographical setting. No copy of this edition has been located in the principal institutional collections consulted. Cf. Palau, 71807 (reference to be verified against the present copy).

Contemporary full ivory limp vellum with yapp edges, smooth spine with manuscript title written...

New collected edition of the works of this German-born Neo-Latin poet, one of a few copies printed on deluxe Dutch paper (see Brunet III, 1180–1181. Cf. G. Oberlé, "Poètes néo-latins", pp. 134–137; Van Tieghem, p. 91 ff.).

The first volume includes a portrait of the author.

Full ivory vellum bindings, spines with five raised bands richly decorated with gilt floral and ornamental rolls, red morocco title labels, gilt dentelle frame to covers, gilt plaques with the legend "Minerva Dordracena" at the center of each board, sprinkled edges, red silk ties (mostly missing), contemporary bindings.

A fine edition according to Brunet, who notes: “There are copies on...

Uncommon first edition (cf. Polak 8200).

Modern binding in light blue cloth, smooth spine, speckled edges, original wrappers preserved and mounted on tabs.

The work was written at a time when the abolition of privateering was increasingly being discussed—a measure that would later be enacted in the Treaty of Paris of 1856.

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a folding copper-engraved frontispiece by Bénard: "Mort du Capitaine Cook à Owhy-hée, Fevrier 1779," and a folding map titled "Carte montrant la route suivie par M. Cook… dans son troisième et dernier Voyage."

See O'Reilly and Reitman, 419. See also Hill, p. 253, for the first English edition. Forbes, Hawaiian National Biography, 45.

Contemporary binding in half marbled calf with vellum-tipped corners, spine decorated with gilt floral compartments, red morocco title label, marbled paper boards, red edges.

Restored loss to the title page. The half-title is lacking in our copy; the boards are modern.

"An...

First edition of this celebrated illustrated publication, issued in Paris by H.-L. Delloye in 84 parts between February 1842 and October 1843 and subsequently gathered into three volumes. Carteret described it as an “admirable publication printed on stout wove paper [...] one of the finest of the 19th century”, comparing the quality of its production to that of the great illustrated books of the 18th century. Carteret III, 143-153; Vicaire II, 234-248.

The first volume comprises 5 unnumbered leaves - half-title...

First edition, one of 35 numbered copies printed on vélin pur chiffon B.F.K. de Rives, the only limited deluxe issue.

A small tear at the top of the lower cover, barely noticeable.
Very handsome copy.

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece engraved by De Launay after Marillier (cf. Conlon, 83:1107; Quérard, III, 174; Barbier, I, 276; Brunet, 5636. Not listed by Thiébaud).

Contemporary full speckled calf, smooth spine gilt in compartments with decorative tooling, green morocco title label, gilt rolls on the caps, gilt fillets along the edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, joints lightly restored, some repairs to the spine, yellow edges.

Joints tender, endpapers slightly soiled at the margins, a few spots to the edges, handwritten ownership note on the half-title.

The author, a traveller and naturalist born in Montargis in 1734 and who died near...

First edition of the French translation of this account of the Lutheran mission’s activities on the eastern coast of India, originally published under various titles.

Contemporary full marbled light brown calf, spine with five raised bands richly gilt with garland rolls and double decorative panels, light brown calf title label, headcap shaved, gilt fillets along the edges, corners restored, red edges, period binding.

Since 1620, the Danish East India Company had held several trading posts and possessions along the Indian coastline, the principal settlement being Tranquebar. Transferred to the Danish Crown in 1779, these outposts became Danish colonies. However, frequently...

First edition (cf. Barbier IV, cols. 211-212).

Contemporary full red morocco Jansenist binding, spine with five raised bands framed by black fillets, gilt roll tooling on the caps, blind-stamped fillet border on covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle border on the pastedowns, gilt fillets on the edges somewhat faded, all edges gilt, bookplate mounted on pastedown.

Some minor internal defects (dampstains and a small loss at the foot of a few leaves).

Barbier devotes an extensive entry to the condemnation of this work on the mystical movement of Quietism, for which Fénelon long contended with Bossuet before both he and Madame Guyon were condemned by Pope...

First edition, one of the 200 numbered copies on Hollande paper, the only large paper edition.
A stain on the front cover near the title, fading on the half-title page, shaded endpapers.
Rare copy with full margins.

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece by Ozanne depicting the frigate *L’Aurore*, engraved by Haussard, four plates of instruments, and one folding map at the end of the volume (cf. Polak 2098).

Contemporary-style binding in bronze half calf, flat spine decorated with double gilt fillets, bronze morocco title label with some rubbing, marbled paper boards, modern binding.

In 1767, Coutanvaux was commissioned by the Académie des Sciences to undertake a voyage to the North to test various marine timekeeping systems.

Some light foxing, not affecting the text.

First edition of this excellent maritime dictionary, later reprinted in 1780, 1797, and 1799.

The work is complete in all its parts and includes 31 engraved plates by Le Gouaz after the author's drawings.

Contemporary full mottled calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and floral tools, red morocco title label, headcap worn down, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges, upper corners worn.

Small loss to the upper left corner of the front free endpaper, tears to the left margin of the title page, occasional foxing, otherwise a pleasant copy internally.

Born in Lyon on 5 November 1743, Daniel Lescallier entered naval service...

New edition printed in 250 copies at the government's expense, intended to provide work for typographic workers (cf. Sabin 11841. Leclerc 697).

Contemporary half blue calf bindings, flat spines decorated with double gilt fillets and blind-stamped typographic motifs, gilt decorative rolls at foot of spines, restored with minor rubbing to the spines, marbled paper boards, hand-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges.

Some occasional light foxing.

A rare copy, handsomely bound in contemporary bindings.

Second edition of the French translation, expanded with a few remarks and illustrated with a map of the North Atlantic and 9 folding plates outside the text (natural history, views, Inuit types, etc.), cf. Sabin 22312n. "European Americana" 750/110. See Leclerc 717 for the first French edition published a year earlier.

The plates are captioned in both French and Dutch; the original English edition was published in London in 1748; the first French edition appeared in Paris in 1749.

The work opens with a historical account of earlier attempts to discover a route to the East Indies via the Northwest Passage.

Contemporary binding in full marbled calf, spine with gilt...

First edition of this highly significant document on the state of Parisian hospitals at the end of Louis XVI's reign, written by Jacques Tenon (1724–1816), surgeon at the Salpêtrière, which remained an influential reference for French hospital policy through to the Third Republic.

The work is complete with its 17 folding plates (including 2 tables and 14 architectural plans and elevations of hospitals).

Some light foxing; the copy appears to have been rebound in this later binding.

Contemporary pastiche binding in half Havana sheep, flat spine with gilt fillets and the gilt cipher and arms of the Chodron de Courcel family, green paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers...

First edition of the French translation by David Durand, illustrated with 5 plates (4 folding), including a genealogical chart (cf. Brunet IV, 1203. Hage Chahine, 3949).

Contemporary full stiff vellum, spine with five raised bands, lower joint split, black morocco lettering-piece, bumped corners.

Some inevitable soiling due to the binding, light foxing to initial and final leaves, ff. 107–108 and 109–110 restored and trimmed short.

The De Religione Mohammedica was first published in 1705, and reissued in 1717 in an expanded edition.

The Dutch orientalist Adriaan Reland (1676–1718) pursued a broad range of scholarly interests, but this presentation of the...

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with two folding plates hors texte.

This is an abridged translation (unusually, this is stated) of the major work Reise durch Sibirien, published in Göttingen in 1751–1752 in four quarto volumes richly illustrated. It recounts a major scientific expedition to Siberia that took place from July 1733 to February 1743. Johann Georg Gmelin (1709–1755) held the chair of chemistry and natural history at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Despite the erratic pagination of the second volume, the set is complete.

Contemporary full marbled tan calf, flat spines decorated with gilt compartments, red morocco title...

Elzevirian "à la sphère" edition based on the first one printed in 1623, with the same features, including a red-and-black title page for the first volume and a black title page for the second. Brunet suggests it may have been printed in Brussels (IV, 1050).

Numerous headbands, culs-de-lampe, and initials.

Full dark green morocco binding, spine with five raised bands, with gilt fleurons and framed in blind, gilt date at foot. Covers with a Du Seuil-style double panel of blind-ruled borders, gilt fleurons at the corners of the inner panel, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, inner gilt dentelle, gilt edges, edges and spine-ends ruled in gilt.  Binding signed "Petit succede...

New edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin, 90059).

Contemporary red half shagreen binding, flat spine decorated with gilt and blind fillets, gilt floral rolls at head and foot, marbled paper boards, hand-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original pink printed cover (blank) preserved, 20th-century binding.

Some foxing, a tiny nick at the foot of the spine.

Third volume of the Voyages, relations et mémoires originaux pour servir à l'histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique, edited by Henri Ternaux-Compans.

This is the first French version of Hans Staden's account, a native of Homburg in Hesse, originally published in German in Marburg in 1557 (one...

First edition, one of 35 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only copies printed on deluxe paper.

A handsome copy, despite slight and marginal fading to the spine and covers.

First edition, only one other copy recorded (BnF).

Full dark purple morocco binding, spine with five raised bands with gilt floral motifs, gilt date at foot, spine slightly faded, covers numerously framed in gilt, gilt-tooled corners each adorned with a blue onlaid morocco medallion stamped with a central gilt fleuron, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, pastedown bookplate of Ernest Stroehlin, inner gilt dentelle, spine-ends ruled in gilt, very light rubbing to corners, all edges gilt. A tiny restored lack of paper to the upper part of the title page, not affecting the text.

Very rare anti-Protestant satire in the form of a dialogue between the...