Antique grammars, philology, language studies, dialectology and comparative language sciences

First edition.

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

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

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

Rare first edition illustrated with 2 out-of-text plates, hand-coloured at the time, depicting Morlach costumes (cf. Conlon 78:960. Not recorded by Quérard.)

Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, under the period plain grey covers (spine lacking, covers with tears and detached, corners bumped, a few foxing spots, final endpaper stained at foot).

We have encountered another copy of this work illustrated with a single folding plate containing 3 figures.

Pages 78 to 85 contain a song in the Morlach language, with a French translation printed opposite.

First edition of this ambitious study dedicated to the eminent Orientalist Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy, in which the author sets out to examine "l'état et les destinées de l'Asie, d'y suivre la trace des systèmes religieux et d'en indiquer l'enchaînement" (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 70. Barbier I, 305 c. Quérard XI, 101.)

Contemporary full porphyry calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with quadruple gilt fillets and gilt fleurons, gilt ornamental borders at head and foot, olive-green calf lettering- and volume-labels, three with losses at the corners, gilt rolls to the headcaps, covers framed with double gilt fillets, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, gilt fillets to...

Rare first edition illustrated with 2 plates outside the text, including a frontispiece and a large folding facsimile of the inscription.

Contemporary green half sheep, spine faded and decorated with blind fillets and raised bands, a few scuffs to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges, corners bumped.

A few spots of foxing.

This inscription had been unearthed in Marseille in June 1845 and had already given rise to numerous attempts at interpretation.

It is now known as the “Carthage Tariff” and lay at the origin of the enduring myth of the city’s Phoenician origins: the religious regulations it records appeared to provide proof that...

Autograph letter dated and signed by Georges Dumézil to Thierry Maulnier—though not referred to by name—four pages on a bifolium written in blue ballpoint pen on stationery bearing the letterhead of the Académie française, discussing his recent work "Le dieu masqué".

Rust marks from a paperclip visible at the top of the leaves.

Georges Dumézil expresses agreement with the views of his fellow Immortal: "Je reconnais pour moi cet agnoticisme indulgent (156 - 787) ce scepticisme sans découragement dans son 'léger sourire' (324, - et la fin de 604, 611...) [...] Le Dieu masqué suppose un dieu, ou l'équivalent. Je pense moi, au conte d'Edgar Poe, 'Le...

First edition printed in small numbers.
Traces of horizontal folds on the first cover, otherwise a nice copy.

Signed by Charles-Louis-Augustin Letellier at the top of first cover.

Second edition with some parts in first edition as it was revised.
Spine slightly browned, first cover marginally soiled, a charm at head of first endpaper, handsome interior condition.
Rare.

First edition of this aquatint, printed on laid paper with wide margins. Félicien Rops' characteristic signature is present below the plate in red.
Plate mark dimensions: 18.7x13.9cm. Sheet dimensions: 46x35.2cm
Tense face of a young professor bound by the tongue to the lower body of another figure with strong legs and arms. The latter is visible only from behind and seems to be breaking free from the grip of two strange tentacles emerging from the bulb from which the professor's head protrudes. These surround the main action and create an impression of movement.
Fourteen busts of highly expressive figures, all different from one another, form a circle around...

First edition with a beautiful allegorical frontispiece showing the city of Babylon and its tower of languages in the background, and 4 folding plates of medals and coins.

Armorial copy with the arms of the city of Amsterdam.
Contemporary Dutch binding in full marbled brown sheep. Decorated spine with raised bands. Black morocco title label. Arms of the city of Amsterdam stamped in gilt at the center of the boards. Framing fillet with fleurons in the corners, framing frieze. Edges gilt. Some rubbing. Gilt slightly faded. Handsome copy.

The rare first collected edition, with a frontispiece portrait. This edition contains most of Rivarol's writings and notably numerous short pieces, but it is not entirely complete; certain royalist or monarchist writings were not retained in this edition under the Empire. At the beginning of the fifth volume, a letter from Madame Rivarol thanking the publisher for having removed the calumnious and mendacious notice from volume I. This notice, indeed, has been removed from numerous volumes.

Contemporary bindings in full marbled brown sheep. Spines decorated with 5 different small fleurons. Dark brown calf title and volume labels. Headcaps torn away, except at foot of volume I...

Rare first edition, comprising 9 plates, including 3 folding plates.
Contemporary full mottled brown calf bindings. Spines with raised bands, gilt decoration. Title and volume labels in brown morocco. Blue mottled edges. A handsome copy.

The rare first edition of the two volumes published respectively in 1724 and 1726. It is illustrated with 2 head-piece vignettes, 8 pages of musical scores, a cabalistic tree printed separately, the Samaritan Alphabet, 2 plates of coins and 2 figures also printed separately.

Copy with arms stamped on the covers and within each compartment from the library of the Abbey of Saint-Victor. The Abbey of Saint-Victor was one of the oldest abbeys in Paris (on the site of the University of Jussieu and the Jardin des Plantes) and one of the great intellectual centers of the medieval West; its rich library was opened to the public in the 18th century with the addition of new buildings...

First edition.
Contemporary half light brown speckled sheep over marbled paper boards, spines with triple gilt fillets, black sheep title and volume labels (error to numbering of volumes: the first volume of the supplement, volume 16, is marked 15 by mistake), traces of rubbing and repairs to some spines, a few headpieces rubbed, some with small lacks, a few joints cracked.
A good set preserving its two volumes of supplements, practically no foxing. 

The first edition was published in 1578 in Geneva. Brunet II, 1076: 'Cet ouvrage piquant a été édité à Genève, en 1578, et non à Paris ; selon plusieurs bibliographes. L'auteur y a prodigué son immense érudition, mais en même temps s'y est permis certaines plaisanteries un peu hardies, qui lui attirèrent une verte semonse du conseil de Genève, par suite de laquelle il jugea prudent de s'absenter... Il en existe deux autres d'Anvers, 1579 et 1583, in 16, qui ne sont guère moins rares que la première, et dont le prix est assez élevé.' ["This piquant work was published in Geneva, in 1578, and not in Paris; according to several bibliographers. The author lavished his immense erudition upon...

First edition. Rare. Engraved title page with printer’s vignette (a beehive and bees). A fine edition, handsomely printed on quality laid paper. The copy is authenticated by the author’s original signature.
The copy bears a preliminary page preceding the half-title for a prize, repeating the same motto found on the binding. The book appears to have been presented by the University or School of Harlem to Bernardo Van Laar in 1799 as a first prize in letters, and seems signed by several professors.
Contemporary full mottled calf binding. Emblematic binding (Athena – or Virtue? – with her attributes reading a book beneath a tree, on her shield: a sword surmounted by the Maltese cross...

First edition.
Contemporary full vellum binding. Raised bands to spine. Hebrew title handwritten in ink. Two small wormholes at foot. Two defects with loss to the band of the third compartment and to the upper joint of the fourth compartment.
Hebrew-Latin dictionary compiled by Zanolini, professor of Oriental languages at the seminary of Padua.