Travel books to the Americas, New World exploration accounts, geographical and historical studies of Latin America and United States, Americana, Far-West, discovery of America

First edition, one of the press copies.

Full emerald-green morocco, flat spine with a gilt rule lengthwise, title and author gilt-stamped, frontdecorated with multiple gilt rules framing a central onlaid panel of blue shagreen, light green suede endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt, binding signed Boichot.

Exceptional and highly desirable presentation copy inscribed and signed by Louis-Ferdinand Céline: "A mons. Pierre Jean Jouve cordial hommage Louis Celine."

Unpublished manuscript logbook kept by a French naval officer, an eyewitness to the celebrated action between the Aréthuse and HMS Amelia (1813), and to the campaigns that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

Unpublished autograph manuscript of 189 pages (the first 31 paginated, the remainder unnumbered), kept by an anonymous French naval officer and covering, without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

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

First edition in two parts, illustrated at the end of the volume with one folding table outside the text: "État des farines importées de France et de l'Etranger dans différens Ports de cette Colonie, pendant les mois d'Avril, Mai, Juin & Juillet derniers".

Not recorded by Sabin.

Ineed 2034, which does not mention the folding table: "Des rapports commerciaux qui relient la colonie à la métropole. Saint Domingue ayant souffert de disette, les députés de l'Ile demandent l'abolition du pacte colonial. Mais les députés des manufactures et du commerce de France soutiennent que leurs exportations de blé à Saint Domingue ont toujours été suffisantes et que leur prix n'a jamais...

First edition of the French translation by Barrère de Vieuzac, illustrated with 2 folding maps as plates.

Cf. Sabin 31266. Leclerc 1759.

Contemporary half aubergine basane binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt friezes, a gilt frieze at the tail, marbled paper boards, handmade paper endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, period binding.

Some light water staining affecting notably the two folding maps.

Rare work, significant for its contributions to Statistics, Geography, Mineralogy, Metallurgy, Natural History, Agriculture, and Trade of South America.

The original German edition was printed in Dresden in 1798. Both translations include additional...

Rare first edition. Rare.

Plain spine with small tears, slight angular losses to the wrappers, some foxing, imperial printed colportage stamps at foot of several leaves.

First edition, forming the sixteenth volume of Voyages, relations et mémoires originaux pour servir à l'histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique, published by H. Ternaux-Compans. Cf. Sabin, 94852.

Bound in half green sheepskin, spine with four raised bands, gilt date at the foot, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns of laid paper, upper corner with a minor tear; twentieth-century binding.

Foxing, one stain on the half-title page.

This volume contains: Letters from Don Juan de Zumárraga, elected Bishop of Mexico, to the King. — Documents relating to the disputes between the first Audiencia of New Spain, presided over by Nuño de Guzmán, and the Bishop...

First edition, forming the tenth volume of Voyages, Relations et Mémoires Originaux pour servir à l'Histoire de la Découverte de l'Amérique, published by H. Ternaux-Compans (cf. Sabin, 94854).

Some foxing, front board tending to detach, minor losses to the spine and at the corners of the boards.

This volume contains the Itinerary of the Voyage of the Fleet of the Catholic King to the Island of Yucatan, undertaken in 1518 under the command of Captain General Juan de Grijalva, first published in Italian in Venice in 1522.

It is followed by 19 other previously unpublished pieces relating to the history of Mexico, including: A Brief Account of New...

Rare first edition, cf. Duvivier, I, 143.

Only 2 copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Muséum).

Half-cloth binding in black, smooth and rebacked spine, marbled paper boards, worn corners, speckled edges.

Minor foxing, not affecting the text.

The author, Father Antoine Duss (Anton Düß, 1840–1924), was a Swiss-born Spiritan missionary naturalized as a French citizen. He carried out his ministry almost exclusively in Martinique, particularly in Fort-de-France. He studied these plants "with care, consulting both ancient and modern works and illustrations published on these cryptogams growing in the Antilles in general, including those by Plumier, Swartz, Sloane, de...

First edition (cf. Sabin 23192).

Contemporary half brown shagreen, spine with four raised bands decorated with blind-stamped compartments, slight rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.

A few small spots of foxing, with several imperial colportage stamps at the foot of certain leaves.

The sole edition of this commemorative text, apparently composed directly in French for the author’s nephew.

The physician Thomas Wiltberger Evans (1823-1897) had practised as a dentist in Maryland until 1847, before moving to Paris at the invitation of a fellow American, Dr Cyrus Starr Brewster (1799-1870), who had been...

Rare first edition of this lecture delivered at the Cercle de France in Paris on January 8, 1958, no copy referenced in Worldcat. Light foxing to the front board.

Rare utopian pamphlet celebrating the creation of Brasilia and laying the theoretical foundations for the cities of the future. Inscribed and signed by Robert Miocque to his friend Marcel Dollfus at the top of the first page of text.

First edition, completed at the end of the volume with a folding table printed off text (cf. Sabin 28336; Howes 318).

Bound in full flexible beige boards, the manuscript spine title clumsily restored with an adhesive strip and now largely faded; sprinkled red edges.

A dampstain affecting the upper right corner of the opening leaves; a few scattered foxmarks.

The folding table bound at the end of the volume is not recorded by Sabin. It summarises the key geographical data for each state (natural resources, population in 1790 and 1810, universities and colleges, representation in Congress, etc.).

Father Giovanni Grassi of the Society of Jesus spent several years in...

First edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin, 43416; Smith, Pacific Northwest Americana, 6381; Pilling, Bibl. of the Algonquian Languages, 327; Hoefer, XXXII, 566-567).

Illustrated with a portrait of the author after Sir Thomas Lawrence as frontispiece to the first volume and, at the end of each volume, three engraved maps showing the route from Fort Chipewyan to the Arctic Sea in 1789 and to the Pacific Ocean in 1793, together with the portion of North America lying between the 40th and 70th degrees north latitude and the 45th and 180th degrees west longitude.

Handsome half red shagreen bindings, flat spines ruled in gilt with quintuple fillets, traces of former...

An extremely rare first edition of this valuable statistical survey of Bolivia; absent from both Palau and Sabin. Only one copy recorded in the CCFr (BnF).

Chuquisaca, Imprenta de Sucre, 1851, octavo,

Contemporary half brown sheep, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, marbled paper boards with losses, worn corners and edges, blue-speckled edges; a modest binding of the period.

Copy slightly trimmed.

José Maria Dalence (1782–1852), a jurist and prominent political figure of the independence period (1825), here provides one of the most precise demographic, ethnographic, and economic portraits of the young nation.

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...

Complete autograph manuscript of 50 pages, written on the recto of each leaf and containing numerous deletions and revisions.

The manuscript was published in the December 1872 issue of the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie.

Full red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fleurons and double gilt panels adorned with floral tools, double gilt fillets on the boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle border on the pastedowns, gilt edges on the boards, corners rubbed, contemporary binding.

The leaves are numbered 1 to 50 in the upper left corner; an earlier numbering, struck through, appears in the upper...

First edition of the French translation prepared by F. Soulès of "An account on the present state of Nova Scotia", originally published in 1786.

Our copy is offered unbound.

Pages 31 to 39 are devoted to fishing practices.

First French edition, translated from the third English edition (Sabin, 30036.).

Each volume features a steel-engraved frontispiece.

Covers soiled, front boards detached, minor losses and tears to board margins, some foxing, cracked spines with losses; our copy in wrappers is housed in a modern brown full-cloth slipcase.

The second volume also includes a section on "Passage to Montreal and Quebec" (pp. 317-342) and "The Character of the Canadians" (pp. 331-332, 339-342).

Manuscript ex-libris signed Delecey de Mécourt on the front covers.

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 of this paper on cassava and the cultivation of peanuts, read before the General Assembly of the Royal Aragonese Society on 22 August 1800.

Our copy is preserved in modern plain beige wrappers, with a few insignificant spots of foxing.

From the library of the comte de Lasteyrie du Saillant, the renowned agronomist, with his red printed stamp on the title-page.

First edition of the French translation, one of 25 numbered copies on pur fil, the only copies printed on deluxe paper.

Blood red morocco binding, gilt title lengthwise, gold stingray boards framed in morocco, gilt decorative paper endleaves, original wrappers preserved, top edge gilt, an elegant binding signed Boichot. Front free endpaper slightly toned, otherwise a handsome untrimmed copy.

New edition and the first printing of Jacques Tardi’s illustrations.
Publisher’s white boards, smooth spine.
A handsome copy.
Presentation inscription, dated and signed by Jacques Tardi to Joëlle Passani, with an original black-felt drawing depicting a sorrowful-faced Bardamu in a small vignette.
 

New edition, embellished at the close of the first volume with a folding plate printed out of text (cf. Palau 17346).

Cherry half-shagreen bindings, spines with four raised false bands decorated with gilt fillets and double gilt panels, gilt lettering at the foot of the spines, slight rubbing to the headcaps, blind-tooled frames on the textured cloth boards, pebble-paper endpapers and pastedowns, a few bumped corners, period bindings.

Rear board of the first volume partially soiled.

New edition prepared under the supervision of the physician Rafael Ángel Cowley Valdés-Machado (1837–1908) and Andrés Pego, gathering three major sources for Cuban historiography: José...

Second edition, partly original as it is considerably expanded (cf. Sabin 59254, Howes 7805, F. Monaghan 1171).

Half black shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt double fillets and a gilt pastoral motif, a restored tear to the headcap, black paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.

Scattered foxing.

Provenance: Copy from the library of Marquis Claude-Emmanuel-Joseph-Pierre de Pastoret (1755–1840), with his heraldic device gilt-stamped at the foot of the spine.

Very rare first edition of this address delivered on the seventy-eighth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

No copy listed in the CCF. Not in Sabin.

Rear wrapper missing, a few minor marginal foxings.

Born in Pennsylvania, David Lawrence Gregg (1819–1868) was appointed by President Franklin Pierce to negotiate the annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii with King Kamehameha III, a mission that ultimately failed. The king died on December 15, 1854, and the attempts to integrate Hawaii into the United States were abandoned by his successor, Kamehameha IV.

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.

Autograph letter dated and signed by Alexis Léger, 26 lines in blue ink, written from Washington to his friend Emily Amram, describing the torments of his convalescence following a "stupid accident".

Folds inherent to mailing.

The poet thanks his friend for her floral attentions during his illness: "combien la présence de vos fleurs m'a aidé contre les mauvaises ombres pendant mes jours de réclusion !" and, much to his regret, must once again postpone the visit he had promised her: "une mauvaise grippe washingtonnienne, qui m'a surpris, déjà fatigué, peu après mon retour chez moi, achevé de me déprimer, et pour ne pas accabler encore...

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.

Publisher’s binding, smooth olive-green cloth spine partially faded, upper headcap trimmed, cream boards speckled with pink, bumped corners, shadowed endpapers.

Signed autograph inscription by Thomas Nelson Page at the head of the title page.

First edition of the French translation, of which no deluxe copies were printed.

Crease to the upper left corner of the lower cover and the last leaves.

Illustrations.

Precious inscribed copy to Bernard Kouchner: "To my dear friend Bernard always true to his beliefs and a great partner. With deep admiration and affection. Madeleine 15/11/03."

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on alfa, only deluxe copies. Some light foxing, mainly on the endpapers.

Rare signed presentation copy in French: “To my friend René Jasinski, in token of gratitude and friendship, these few scenes of Jewish life in New York. T. Twersky”, with a sentence in Hebrew translated by the author in French on a laid-in leaf: “Translation of the Hebrew inscription: sixth day of the week ‘Pekoudè’, year 5692 since the creation of the world, in the holy community of Paris”, (Friday, 4 March 1932 according to our calculation).

First edition of this album of caricatures by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi which he numbered and initialed (copy no. 36). Printed “in small numbers” (Bartholdi Museum), with only six located in institutions (Colmar Museum, BnF, Harvard, UPenn, NYPL, Rutgers University).

Publisher’s blue cloth binding, flat spine gilt-lettered lengthwise, upper board numerously framed in black, anchors and stars stamped in black at the corners, title and date gilt-stamped; lower board numerously framed in black, black stars at the corners and a central anchor, red edges. Slight rubbing to joints, faint...

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Magellan and four maps and plans depicting the Strait of Magellan (cf. Sabin, 16765; Leclerc, 1971; Chadenat, 552).

Our copy does not include the appendix published in 1793. "A work difficult to find with the second part" (cf. Chadenat).

Full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands framed by gilt fillets and decorated gilt compartments, gilt rolls on the caps, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges, gilt fillets along the edges, modern binding in period style.

An engaging account of this region of South America, containing the following illustrations: Carta Esferica de la parte sur de la America...

Rare first edition (cf. Sabin 28075).

The CCFr records only 2 copies: Paris (BnF) and Saint-Geniez-d'Olt (Aveyron).

Spine discreetly restored, small corner losses to soiled boards, author's name crossed out in ink on the title page, some foxing.

This study, intended to reconcile the interests of France, the Black population, and the planters in the question of the emancipation of slaves, comprises the following sections: I. Usefulness of the colonies. – II. Opposing influences on the colonies. – III. Systems [of emancipation]. – IV. Compensation. – V. Religious means. – VI. Present moral state of the colonies. – VII. Free labor. – VIII. The mulattoes. – IX. Comparison...

First edition consisting of a collection of editorials published in La Censura in 1849 and 1850, presented by Tomas Aznar Barbachano and Juan Carbó.

Cf. Sabin, 55255. Not in Leclerc.

Front cover and spine lacking, rear cover preserved but detached, soiling to the title-page.

Very rare (no copy in French public collections).

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.

First edition in English.
Elegant pastiche marbled paper Bradel binding by Thomas Boichot, black morocco title-piece, covers preserved (small marginal repairs to upper cover).
Autograph inscription signed by Josselin de Jong to head of upper cover.

First edition of one of the most important revolutionary publications against the African slave trade and the first manifesto of the Society of the Friends of the Blacks, founded in February 1788 by Jacques-Pierre Brissot, Étienne Clavière, and Mirabeau, barely nine months after the London Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, which served as their model.
 

 

First edition, not issued for sale (cf. Sabin 30913).

Some defects with losses along the spine, minor corner creases to the boards, endpapers browned, otherwise a clean and attractive copy internally.

Published in the very year of Maximilian's coronation. The Austrian author supports the acceptance of the crown by the archduke prince, an opinion not shared by many of his compatriots. Contains reflections on the Mexican nation, the two Americas, United States politics, etc.

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece, in-text illustrations and maps, and a double-page map at the end.

Literary collaboration by Joseph Sachot.

Drawings, cover design and maps by André Millot.

Contemporary binding in green half shagreen with corners, smooth spine without title, marbled paper boards, illustrated wrappers bound in on tabs and preserved.

A compelling account of the life and conditions of Inuit populations: Father Roger Buliard (1909–1978), an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, served for fifteen years as a missionary in the Arctic before joining the Canadian military chaplaincy.

The book was a great success upon publication and inspired many...

Extremely rare first edition of the French translation prepared by Désiré Mouren.

There appears to have been no Portuguese edition of this pioneering work in the field of oceanography.

Losses to the spine, upper cover starting to detach, small marginal losses to the boards.

Francisco Calheiros da Graça (1849-1906), a Brazilian naval lieutenant, took part in the operations against Paraguay and conducted several scientific studies and hydrographic surveys.

Extremely rare.

Manuscript ex-libris on the upper cover.

First edition, one of 10 numbered copies on imperial japon, ours one of 3 hors commerce lettered copies, a deluxe issue following 6 on chine.

Bound in full sienna morocco, flat spine, gilt date at foot, moiré-effect endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillet border on pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved (spine restored and backed), gilt edges, chemise edged in sienna morocco, slipcase in wood-effect board with white felt lining, contemporary binding signed by Roger Arnoult.

Our copy is enriched with a one-page signed autograph letter by Jean Cocteau, mounted on a guard, written from La Roche-Posay in Vienne, probably addressed to Pierre Benoit, in which he...

Very rare first edition of this pamphlet, absent from all bibliographies consulted on the subject (Borba de Moraes, Rodrigues, Maggs, Bibliotheca brasiliensis, Robert Bosch), as well as from the national libraries of Brazil and Portugal.

Tears and losses at the corners of the covers, spine reinforced with a brown adhesive strip, a few small spots of foxing.

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.

Reprint of a photograph showing a young Shirley Temple lying on a bed.

A fine copy.

Inscribed and signed in black felt-tip pen by Shirley Temple, dated 1988, to the renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

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...

First edition of this preliminary study to the monumental Historia fisica, politica y natural de la isla de Cuba (Paris, 1832-1861).

Cf Kress 26 754. Palau 284 794. Sabin 74 919.

Contemporary half calf, flat spine decorated with gilt fillets and fleurons as well as a large blind-stamped fleuron, gilt rolls at head and tail, marbled paper boards with some rubbing along the edges, a few small bumps to the extremities, sprinkled edges.

Headcaps rubbed, tear to leaves v–vi with loss of a few letters on the final leaf, title-page slightly soiled, a faint dampstain affecting the lower margin of the first few leaves.

Inscribed by Ramon de La Sagra to...

First edition in Spanish, printed simultaneously with the French edition (Not cited by Sabin, who records only the French version under no. 39838).

Contemporary mottled tan sheep bindings, spines with four raised bands decorated with gilt dentelle and floral tools, red morocco lettering- and volume-pieces, headcaps shaved, gilt dentelle framing on the boards, marbled endpapers, corners rubbed, bindings signed "Felipe Montilla, Merida de Yucatán".

Joints split at head and foot of the first volume, joints rubbed, small marginal tears to a few leaves of the first volume without loss of text, light waterstaining to the edges of both volumes.

This collection of documents...

First edition, consisting of the facsimile of the author’s autograph manuscript.
Publisher’s binding in full white boards, smooth spine, covers illustrated with drawings by Oscar Niemeyer.
A handsome copy, complete with its illustrated dust jacket showing very minor tears and insignificant losses.
Work illustrated with drawings by Oscar Niemeyer.
Rare presentation copy, dated and signed by Oscar Niemeyer to Georges and Alice (Raillard).
Georges Raillard was an art critic and a close friend of Antoni Tàpies and Joan Miró; his wife Alice translated into French the leading Brazilian authors of the second half of the 20th century, such as Jorge Amado.
 

Second edition only one month after the first edition.
Spine lightly wrinkled, small signs of folding in the margins of the boards, a light mark on the second board.

Claude Couffon, a French specialist and translator of the major Spanish-speaking writers of the second half of the 20th century, translated...

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 highly important work, presenting the full text of all decrees and ordinances relating to trade with the Americas, primarily the West Indies (cf. Sabin 11812. Leclerc 113. Barbier I, 649 c. Ined 1038, 1783 edition).

Illustrated with two engraved frontispiece titles and ten maps (nine folding), depicting South America, North America (repeated in vol. 2), Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint-Domingue (2), Cayenne and its surroundings, Louisiana, the Guinea coast, as well as twelve engraved plates showing botanical specimens (sugarcane, cotton, tobacco, cocoa), genre scenes (a Black king dispensing justice, a slave market, turtle fishing), various tools and objects...

First edition of this significant publication issued by the Commission of Inquiry tasked with collecting all available data and documentation on the cultivation, production, and sale of tobacco.

Illustrated with numerous folding tables and a folding map of France, printed in lithography by A. Cabassol and bound out of text.

Apparently not recorded in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Contemporary half calf binding, flat spine rebacked and decorated with gilt fillets, morocco labels in light brown, some rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards with minor marginal flaws, marbled endpapers, sprinkled edges.

Some spotting to top edge; an embossed ownership...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Annales des sciences physiques et naturelles, d'agriculture et d'industrie de Lyon, I, 1838, illustrated with 3 lithographed plates including one folding. (cf. Stafleu, II, 2645. Not in Pritzel.)

Upper right corner of the front wrapper restored.

An appealing copy, bearing a presentation inscription from the author on the front wrapper: "Hommage à M. Lemaire. Offert par l'auteur". This may refer to the botanist Charles Lemaire (1800–1871), author of the Flore des serres et des jardins de l'Europe and a specialist in cacti—plants that are almost exclusively native to the...

Rare first edition, printed in five-column format and illustrated with 27 color maps.

According to the CCF, only the BnF holds copies of this edition.

Some light foxing.

Publisher’s binding in green half cloth, plain flat spine in canvas, soft vellum frame on the upper cover, lower cover in full soft vellum, gilt title on upper board; damage to the lower right corner of the upper cover, restored binding.

Candido Mendes de Almeida (1818–1881), lawyer and politician, took a particular interest in matters of education.

First edition of the French translation by Philippe Florent de Puisieux (see Chadenat 1412 and 6038; Brunet 27050; Polak 5580; and Sabin 3968 for the English edition).

The first volume retains its engraved frontispiece.

Contemporary full calf bindings, spines with five raised bands decorated with double gilt panels and ornamental tooling, red morocco labels for title and volume number, gilt roll tooling on the caps, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, partially faded gilt fillets on board edges, red edges.

Two scratches and two small losses to the upper covers of the first two volumes.

A handsome copy, attractively bound, from the library of Darest de Saconay...

First illustrated edition, featuring 82 drawings by Tiret-Bognet and a color map of the Saint Lawrence River. Publisher's 1890 EX catalogue bound in at rear.
Binding with the two elephants, Lenègre type 3. Rear cover Lenègre type e.
Spine lightly faded, internally clean and well preserved.
In Famille sans nom, Verne recounts the story of a French-Canadian family during the Patriote Rebellion (1837–1838) against British injustice.

First edition of the French translation of England, The United States and the Southern Confederacy, originally published the previous year in London (Sabin 76968).

Copy belonging to the philosopher Charles Renouvier (1815–1903), with a manuscript presentation inscription at the head of the front wrapper.

Spine cracked with small losses and tears. Some light foxing; slight marginal tears to the wrappers.

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 of this significant travel account, which retraces a major circumnavigation with key stopovers including Île Bourbon, Pondicherry, Singapore, Manila, Macao, Tourane, the Anambas Islands, Java, Surabaya, Port Jackson, Santiago, Valparaíso, and Rio de Janeiro.

The atlas volume contains 56 plates and maps, 13 of which are hand-colored (cf. Sabin 6875; Borba de Moraes I, 115; Ferguson 2236; Nissen ZBI, 483; British Museum (Natural History) II, 605).

The text volumes are bound in contemporary navy blue half calf, flat spines faded and decorated with gilt and blind-ruled fillets, gilt roll-tooled head- and tailpieces, marbled paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers...

Attractive promotional album, complete with its 600 sepia-toned photographs (small prints, each approximately 7 x 5 cm), produced by the La Corona cigar brand. Each vignette was originally included inside the brand's cigar boxes and was meant to be collected and mounted in the album, following a well-established marketing model that remains in use to this day.

Publisher’s original flexible boards with black cloth tape along the margins; some scuffing to covers, corners rubbed.

Very rare first edition.

No copies listed in the CCF or WorldCat.

Official recognition by the Peruvian Senate of the rank of Rear Admiral granted to Antonio Ambrosio de La Haza Rodriguez (1825–1891), one of the most distinguished naval officers of the Andean Republic.

He served as Minister of War in 1877 and as Commander-in-Chief of the naval forces in 1878–1879.

A handsome copy.

First edition.

Bound in full cherry red morocco, smooth spine richly gilt with romantic typographic ornaments, gilt roll tooling on the caps, boards framed with double gilt fillets and interlaced motifs with gilt corner fleurons, gilt AO monogram stamped at the center of the boards, gilt garland border on the pastedowns, moiré sky-blue silk endpapers and pastedowns, trace of a removed bookplate on one pastedown, gilt fillets on the edges, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

The sections relating to the colonies are as follows: Martinique, pp. 199–203; Guadeloupe and dependencies, pp. 204–209; French Guiana, pp. 210–212; Bourbon, pp. 216–220; French settlements in Oceania...

First edition with all first printing  features, one of the press copies.

Exceptional presentation copy inscribed by the author to the famous singer Yvette Guilbert, to whom Céline himself sang and offered one of his scandalous compositions, “Katika la putain,” [Katika the Whore] later renamed “À Nœud coulant” [With a Slipknot"] "A madame Yvette Guilbert en témoignage de ma profonde admiration. LFCéline.” 

Beneath Céline's inscription, the actor Fabrice Luchini added: “A Yvette Guilbert in memoriam. FLuchini” ; and on the half-title, actor Jean-François Balmer wrote in turn: “Merci en bon...

Very rare first edition illustrated with 3 lithographed plates (including a frontispiece), (cf. Polak 4516).

Only two copies listed in the CCF (BnF and Caen). Other copies are reported in Bayeux and Granville.

Copy preserved in its original wrappers, with blue paper covers showing minor losses to the corners; dampstains affecting the lower margin of the second half of the volume, without any loss of text.

Bookseller's label pasted on the inside of the upper cover, printed stamp of the same bookseller on the title page, blindstamp of a bibliophile on the half-title and the verso of the frontispiece.

Rare account of the shipwreck off the coast of Newfoundland on 29...

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...

Very rare first edition of this work, never reprinted.

Only one copy listed in the CCF (Versailles).

Contemporary bottle green half shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands ruled in gilt and adorned with double gilt compartments and gilt floral motifs, gilt title at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges.

Some foxing; Mexican peddler's stamp on title page.

Only edition of this collection presented from a Mexican perspective, with an introduction by José Maria Lafragua Ibarra (1813–1875).

Name R. Criado stamped in gilt at foot of spine.

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 original edition printed in a very limited number of copies of this excerpt from the Annales des Sciences naturelles of April 1825 (cf. Ronsil, Bibliogr. ornithologique française, 2476.)

Missing at the Bn.

Copy presented under a plain blue waiting cover.

A stain on several leaves, a word corrected in ink on page 7.

Quoy and Gaimard were naturalists of the expedition of discoveries around the world commanded by Captain Freycinet.

First trade edition, issued after just 50 deluxe copies.

A pleasant copy illustrated with drawings by the author.

Rare (possibly complete) collection of this popular Chilean weekly printed in Valparaíso, not listed in the catalogue of the National Library’s periodicals.

Contemporary binding in red half sheep, smooth spine decorated with double gilt and black fillets, black morocco title label, marbled paper-covered boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Although primarily concerned with historical and political matters—featuring frequent polemics against Spain and Peru—this provincial paper also aspires to literary status, including numerous poems, occasionally illustrated with small wood engravings. The "classified ads," of particular interest, along with the theatre listings...

First edition of the French translation by A.J.B. Defauconpret (see Sabin 73385).

Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of the author in the first volume, and in the second volume with a folding map and two plates depicting a view of the Victory and a view of the Filson Islands.

Contemporary green half calf bindings, flat spines decorated with triple gilt fillets, rubbed headcaps, joints slightly split at the head, green paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, corners of the first volume slightly bumped.

Some foxing.

First edition of this biography of the renowned explorer.

Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait and a folding lithographed map bound at the end of the volume.

Copy preserved in a plain temporary wrapper.

Some light foxing, traces of damp-staining along the lower edge of all leaves.

Rare.

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...

Rare first edition, illustrated with a folding map bound at the end of the volume (cf. Backer & Sommervogel VIII, 827).

Only one copy recorded in the CCF (BnF).

Contemporary full black shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands adorned with blind-ruled fillets, minor rubbing to spine, covers framed with double and single blind fillets with corner volutes, some rubbing to covers, bumped corners, sprinkled edges.

Father Benito Viñes [Poboleda (Tarragona) 1837 – Havana 1893] arrived in Havana in 1870, where he was appointed director of the magnetic and meteorological observatory, a position he held until his death. His studies on Caribbean hurricanes remain...

First edition of the French translation established by P. Arsène Mousqueron, an employee of the French telegraph administration, with the collaboration of Manuel Rouaud y Paz Soldan.

Contemporary black half shagreen, spine with four raised bands decorated with blind-ruled fillets, restored to spine and joints, black paper-covered boards framed with blind tooling, yellow paper endpapers and pastedowns.

Some minor foxing.

This highly detailed geography of each Peruvian province also includes studies on the country's production and trade, merchant navy, political education, and territorial organization.

First edition, illustrated with 26 folding tables framed typographically. (Not listed in Sabin, who only records under no. 22885 another economic publication by the same author, printed the same year.)

Contemporary half havana sheep binding, flat spine decorated with double gilt and blind fillets, brown sheep title label with minor losses, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards slightly faded at the margins, some paper losses to the covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, rubbing to edges, corners worn.

Joints restored; small tear affecting the text on pages 83–84 of the second part.

A rare and highly valuable source on the dire state of the Mexican economy in the...

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece portrait, two folding colour maps, and 34 plates outside the text.

Publisher’s binding in full green percaline, flat spine decorated with blind-stamped panels and fillets, gilt date at foot; some rubbing to one joint, slightly frayed, cold-stamped frame on covers, brown paper endpapers and pastedowns, corners slightly bumped.

Inscribed, dated and signed on the front free endpaper as a gift.

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 of these extremely scarce memoirs (cf. Bourquelot V, 374. Tulard 1007. Bertier de Sauvigny 720).

Contemporary bindings in brown half sheep, flat spines decorated with gilt Romantic rolls and black floral tools, red morocco labels for volume numbers and titles, marbled paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, some corners worn, marbled edges.

Spine of volume four damaged, restorations to the spines, two lower caps rubbed, occasional foxing.

The Countess Merlin was born Maria de las Mercedes de Santa Cruz y Montalvo (1789–1852) in Havana.

Her memoirs offer valuable anecdotal insight into society life in Cuba, the Peninsular War, and...

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, very rare, of this album illustrated with 12 lithographic plates by Émile Verdier after drawings by the author (1 frontispiece and 11 plates, including one large folding plate depicting Pointe-à-Pitre) (cf. Sabin 8949).

Text and illustrations by Armand Budan.

Contemporary binding in brown quarter cloth with corners, smooth spine with long chocolate shagreen title-piece, boards covered with marbled paper framed by blind fillets, blue endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, early 20th-century binding.

The plates depict: Palmiste River. Heights of Petit-Bourg; Forest interior. Road to the Soufrière; View of the Soufrière from Versailles; The Yellow Baths...

Uncommon first edition containing highly interesting observations on life aboard the Newfoundland fishing vessels (cf. Sabin 11020).

The chapters on whaling and seal hunting were overlooked by Thiébaut, Jenkins, and Vaucaire.

The author, Constant-Jean-Antoine Carpon (1803–1872), was a medical officer and surgeon in the merchant navy. He began his career in 1826 and continued until 1865, taking part in numerous fishing expeditions to Newfoundland.

Contemporary quarter maroon paper binding, flat spine slightly faded and decorated with blind-stamped fillets, brown paper boards with minor rubbing.

Some light foxing.

Inscribed by Constant-Jean-Antoine...

First edition of the author's first work; Aboal Amaro, Amerigo Vespucci, page 31. Leclerc, 263 (does not mention this edition). Sabin, 10704.

Contemporary limp cream paper boards, plain spine, original binding.

Spine worn with some loss, a marginal stain affecting two leaves at the beginning, otherwise a clean and attractive copy.

This essay, in which the author argued "with a certain force of reasoning" (Larousse) that Vespucci discovered America before Christopher Columbus, was awarded the prize of the Academy of Cortona in 1788. The Florentine scholar Stanislas Canovai (1740–1811) devoted his life to restoring the reputation of the famed navigator Amerigo...

First edition, illustrated with 5 lithographed plates outside the text, each featuring multiple figures (Not listed in Sabin).

Bound in modern half beige calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt and black fillets, black morocco title label, marbled paper boards, restored and preserved original printed wrappers bound in. Binding signed by the Laurenchet workshop.

Some occasional spotting.

All published: the renowned anthropologist had planned a work in two or perhaps three volumes gathering his observations made during travels in Alaska.

The plates depict fossils, bones of sea otters and American brockets, mollusks, and more. Contributions include studies and...