Search results
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FRASER, James.
The history of Nadir Shah, formerly called Thamas Kuli Khan, the present emperor of Persia. To which is prefix’d...
London, W. Strahan for the author, 1742.
First edition of ‘the first book in English treating of the Persian ruler Nadir Shah, “the scourge of God”, who had invaded India in 1737–8’ (ODNB), by the Scottish orientalist James Fraser (1713–54). Fraser served with the East India Company for ten years, at Mocha in Yemen and at Khambhat...
£650
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[BELGIUM and NETHERLANDS.]
‘Journal of a trip to Holland July 1825’.
The Netherlands and Belgium, 1825.
An entertaining and informative diary of a holiday in the Netherlands and Belgium by an anonymous Englishman, recording his adventures in Rotterdam, Delft, The Hague, Leiden, Haarlem, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Waterloo, Ghent, and Bruges.
£650
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BONVALOT, Gabriel.
Across Thibet, being a translation of ‘De Paris au Tonking à travers le Tibet inconnu’ … with illustrations...
New York, Cassell Publishing Company, 1892.
Second edition (first 1891) relating the extraordinary Central Asian journey of Bonvalot (1853-1933) in the company of Prince Henri d’Orléans and the Belgian missionary Constant de Decken.
£200
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[TICHBORNE, Herbert.]
Rambles in Polynesia by ‘Sundowner’ …
London, European Mail Ltd, 1897.
First edition, with a presentation inscription from the author, and in an attractive pictorial binding.
£125
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STEIN, Aurel.
Sand-buried ruins of Khotan. Personal narrative of a journey of archaeological and geographical exploration in Chinese...
London, Hurst and Blackett, 1904.
‘Cheaper edition’ (published a year after the first) of Stein’s account of his first expedition to Central Asia in 1900–1901.
£500
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BRETON DE LA MARTINIÈRE, Jean Baptiste Joseph.
China, its costume, arts, manufactures, etc. Edited principally from the originals...
London, for J.J. Stockdale, 1813.
Fifth edition (first 1812) of this popular and charming work devoted to China, translated from the French (La Chine en miniature) and illustrated with 80 hand-coloured engraved plates, beginning with a portrait of the emperor Qianlong.
£950
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SMITH, Albert Richard.
The Story of Mont Blanc …
London, David Bogue, 1853.
First edition of Smith’s famous book on Mont Blanc, a lovely copy formerly in the possession of his sister, Laura Eady.
£1275
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SIMPSON, Alexander.
The life and travels of Thomas Simpson, the Arctic discoverer …
London, Richard Bentley, 1845.
First edition of this account of the life and adventures of the Scottish Arctic explorer Thomas Simpson (1808–1840), by his brother Alexander. Simpson joined the Hudson’s Bay Company and arrived in Canada in 1829. Between 1836 and 1840 he took part in a remarkable expedition under Peter Warren Dease,...
£650
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[SCHLOSSER, Johann Albert.] BODDAERT, Pieter.
Epistola ad virum celeberrimum Johannem Burmannum … De Chaetodonte Argo descripto...
Amsterdam, apud Cornelium van Tongerlo, 1770.
First and only edition of Boddaert’s description of this Indo-West Pacific fish species found in the Schlosser natural history cabinet.
£500
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[RICHMOND.]
The Belvidere: a Poem. Inscrib’d to Joseph Grove, Esq. of Richmond, in the County of Surrey …
London: Printed in the Year 1749.
First edition, rare (British Library and Yale only) of a very attractive description in verse of a country estate in Richmond. The first pages offer a prospect of the garden with its flowers and shrubs, shaded walks and arbours, a bower with the escutcheon over the door of the late Sir William...
£2750
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KIRAM, Zeki Hasmet.
Vocabularium anatomiae latine-turcice. [Qamūs te šrih lātīnğe-türkğe].
Berlin, Morgen- und Abendland-Verlag, 1923.
First edition of a comprehensive glossary of anatomical terms in Latin with corresponding translation in Ottoman Turkish, intended for medical students among the increasingly large Turkish community in Germany, by the Syrian Ottoman officer turned Berlin publicist, arms dealer, and Muslim activist...
£375
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KIRAM, Zeki Hasmet.
Vocabularium anatomiae latine-arabice. [Qāmūs al-ta¬šrīḥ Lātīnī-‘Arabī].
Berlin, Morgen- und Abendland-Verlag, 1923.
First edition of an uncommon glossary of anatomical terms in Latin with corresponding translation in Arabic, intended for Arabic-speaking medical students studying in European universities, by army officer turned Berlin publicist, arms dealer, and Muslim activist Zeki Kiram (1886–1946).
£375
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AELIANUS, Claudius, Conrad GESSNER (translator), and Pierre GILLES (editor).
Περι ζωων ιδιοτητος...
Cologny, Philippe Albert, 1616.
Uncommon Geneva edition of Aelianus’s De animalium natura, the Greek printed in parallel with Gessner’s Latin translation. A third-century work on natural history, Aelianus’s text offers accounts and anecdotes of animals, ‘an appealing collection of facts and fables about the animal...
£300
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BAUR, Fidelis.
Geschichte der Hohenzollernschen Staaten Hechingen und Sigmaringen von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf unsere Tage,...
Sigmaringen, Bucher & Liener, 1834-6.
First edition. Perched on the Zollenberg, just south of Hechingen, is the castle of Hohenzollern, which gave its name to the ruling house of Brandenburg–Prussia from 1415 to 1918, arguably the most powerful family in German history. The ancestral lands were divided in 1575 by Count Karl...
£350
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BALBI, Girolamo.
Oratio habita ab eloquentissimo viro Hieronymo Balbo Praesule Gurcen[sis] Serenissimi Principis Ferdinandi Archiducis...
[Rome, Francesco Minucio Calvo, 1523.]
First(?) edition of Balbi’s celebrated oration in praise of newly elected pope Adrian VI, one of several editions to appear in the same year, with priority not established.
£550
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NAVARRETE, Domingo Fernández.
Tratados historicos, politicos, ethicos, y religiosos de la monarchia de China. Descripcion breve...
Madrid, Juan Garcia Infançon for Florian Anisson, 1676.
Scarce first edition, one of the most important early studies of Chinese history, religion, philosophy, and culture, by the Spanish Dominican Domingo Navarrete (d. 1689).
£4750
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ORLEANS, Pierre Joseph d’ and Francis EGERTON, 1st Earl of ELLESMERE (editor and translator).
History of the two Tartar conquerors...
London, The Hakluyt Society, 1854.
First edition thus, a Hakluyt society translation of Pierre Joseph d’Orleans’ history of the Manchu conquest and the reign of the Kangxi emperor, appended with reports by the seventeenth-century Jesuit missionary travellers Ferdinand Verbiest and Tomás Pereira.
£175
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PEISSEL, Michel.
Tibetan pilgrimage. Architecture of the sacred land. Text and watercolors by Michel Peissel.
New York, Harry N. Abrams Inc., 2005.
‘Tibetan Pilgrimage … is the result of forty-five years of study by author and illustrator Michel Peissel … With nearly a hundred exceptional watercolour illustrations, this book reveals the elegance, variety, and originality of Tibetan architecture in all its splendor’ (dust jacket).
£75
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ALEXANDER, William.
The costume of China, illustrated in forty-eight coloured engravings …
London, William Miller, 1805.
An incomplete first edition of William Alexander’s important and widely popular illustrated work on China, containing 44 of the original 48 aquatint plates. A one-time student of William Pars and later Julius Caesar Ibbetson, Alexander travelled to China as artist-in-residence for the diplomatic trade...
£750
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STAPLETON, Thomas.
Promptuarium Catholicum ad instructionem concionatorum contra haereticos nostri temporis, super omnia evangelia...
Antwerp, Pierre Beller, 1592.
Rare third edition, expanded, of Stapleton’s handbook or ‘storehouse’ of scriptural devotions for Sundays and feast days, first published in 1589. An independent companion volume for the weekdays in Lent was first published in 1594.
£700