nature (Plus de 2 100 résultats)

No binding. Etat : Near fine. First. THE MOST IMPORTANT 18TH-CENTURY MAP OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST. Manuscript map in ink and watercolor of the southern United States and northern Mexico. [Paris: ca. 1722-1725.] Two joined sheets (22 5/8" x 36 3/4", 575mm x 933mm; 31 3/4" x 45 3/4" framed). Some creases throughout, with marginal tanning and soiling. A couple of spots of foxing. Jean-Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe (1683-1765) came from France in 1718 to map and to set up trading posts in present-day Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Whereas the Northeast was the site of contention between the French and the British, the contest in the Southwest was between France and Spain. Using New Orleans as his base, La Harpe forged connections with native Americans between the Arkansas River, which cuts through Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas before joining the Mississippi; and the Red River, which describes the border between eastern Oklahoma and Texas. The map is particularly detailed in its chronicling of native American settlements west of Texas: the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora, New Mexico, Arizona and California into Baja California. La Harpe is particularly careful in his indications of the nature of these settlements: "Indiens Gentils" and "Chretiens," sites of silver mines, capitals/presidios and of ruined or abandoned villages. After several years of exploration as well as gathering materials from other explorers, La Harpe returned to France in 1723, and it is in the years immediately following that this map is presumed to have been made. Copied by the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine (the only other known copy is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France; that is attributed to Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville), the relationship between La Harpe's original and the present item is unclear. Certain points appear on our map that are not on the BnF example (and vice-versa), so both appear to be independent copies. Ours extends further east than the BnF copy, which stops before Florida. The BnF copy extends much further north and west, which in our copy is obscured by the legend. By comparison to printed maps of the period and even well beyond, these manuscript maps are far more accurate and detailed. Perhaps the Dépot des cartes held this information close for proprietary or military reasons. Nonetheless, the Spanish would go on to dominate the American South (La Harpe conducted the surrender of Pensacola, visible only on our map, to the Spanish) freeing the French to focus on their territorial struggles with the British in the North and East. From the collection of the late great cartographic historian Dr. Seymour I. Schwartz (his sale, Sotheby's New York, 28 June 2018, lot 145).

Etat : Very Good. Mars and the Imagination: A monumental and carefully curated collection of over 900 works of both fiction and non-fiction tracing the history of our understanding and obsession with the Red Planet. To begin exploring the collection, please see our description available on this page under "View the Collection". Background Mars and the Imagination was conceived and assembled by the experienced collector David Wenner - whose comprehensive collection on the history of physics now resides at the Niels Bohr Library of the American Institute of Physics - and represents much more than a "collection" of works. Through his years of research and study, Wenner was able to unearth important and previously unrecognized literary and historical texts, making new connections among them. Contextualized in such a way, the items in Mars and the Imagination collectively tell an illuminating story through primary sources that to our knowledge has not been previously attempted. It is the story of our fascination with the Red Planet, a story of our wonder about something that is just out of reach, a story that has revealed as much about us as it has about Mars. Fiction and Non-Fiction For hundreds of years, Mars has been observed by scientists, but lurked tantalizingly on the edge of our ability to truly understand the nature of the planet. It thus became a perfect template for speculation: What are the conditions on Mars? Is it hospitable to life? Are there, or have there ever been, living beings on Mars and if so, are they like us? Superior to us? Threatening to us? Will we ever be able to visit Mars? The approaches to answering these questions have been varied, with both scientific inquiry and imaginative fiction in a continual dialogue of influence on each other. Mars and the Imagination, therefore includes texts by such scientific giants such as Kepler, Huygens, Hooke, and Cassini, but also fiction by literary masters such as Swift, Wells, Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke. Different Formats, Different Audiences: A Vision of Mars for All The collection includes many specialist textbooks and journal articles written by scientists for fellow scientists, but it striking to witness how discussions of Mars seeped into the public consciousness of each generation. There are many papers from esteemed scientific journals such as Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Comptes Rendus or Nature, but Mars is represented just as thoroughly in more popular publications such as The New Yorker, National Geographic, Life Magazine, and even Playboy. It seemed, at times, that all society had a keen interest in news and speculation about Mars. The collection reflects this - seeing different formats and genres from the same period next to each other underscores the point that wonder about Mars has been part of the zeitgeist of each era, including our own. Rescuing Primary Sources and Preserving the Ephemeral One of the strengths of the collection is the preservation of essential primary source material that might otherwise be lost. Many of the items were published in ephemeral formats such as journals, magazines, or as pulp fiction. They were not designed to last and are extremely difficult to find in collectible condition today. Similarly, many of the more scholarly scientific works were published for a small audience of peers and never existed in large numbers. Mars and the Imagination provides a unique opportunity to see these primary sources in one place, and preserves them for future generations. Beautifully Presented and Exhibit-Ready Most of the items in Mars and the Imagination are safely housed in beautiful custom boxes, with the contents often grouped together by themes and carefully labeled. Thus, the collection is attractively presented and easy to navigate, serving not only as a working library for study and enjoyment, but as an exhibit-ready collection. For a more detailed exhibition of highlights form the collection, please click on the attached P.

Tall quarto (277 x 194 mm). Contemporary black quarter roan, dark brown pebble-grain cloth over boards, green page marker. 2 engraved title pages, 1 engraved portrait frontispiece with autograph, facsimile autograph letter from Marx to the publisher, dated 18 March 1872, with Lachatre's reply to verso, engraved head- and tailpieces. Text in two columns. First edition in French, first issue, a fine presentation copy, inscribed by Marx to the Frankfurt banker Sigmund Schott, with whom Marx exchanged ideas central to his philosophies and work: "Mr Sigmund Schott, de la part l'auteur, Londres, 3 Novembre 1877" to the first engraved title page. Presentation copies of Capital are exceptionally rare, with only seven others having been offered at auction in the last 60 years, just two of those being the first edition in French as here. Sigmund Schott was a German bank director and journalist. He was also a literary critic, bibliophile, and corresponded with some of the most important intellectual figures of the epoch. In certain editions of Marx's correspondence, Schott was misidentified as the German politician (1818-1895), with whom he shared the same name. As a result, the importance of the relationship between the young banker and the philosopher has perhaps been underexposed. Schott and Marx wrote to one another on a number of occasions over several months, and in the letter that originally accompanied the present volume - and bears the same date as the inscription: 3 November 1877 - Marx details his approach to constructing Capital. "Dear Sir," Marx begins. "My best thanks for the packages. Your offer to arrange for other material to be sent to me from France, Italy, Switzerland, etc. is exceedingly welcome, although I feel reluctant to make undue claims on you. I don't at all mind waiting, by the by, nor will this in any way hold up my work, for I am applying myself to various parts of the book in turn. In fact, privatim, I began by writing Capital in a sequence (starting with the 3rd, historical section) quite the reverse of that in which it was presented to the public, saving only that the first volume - the last I tackled - was got ready for the press straight away, whereas the two others remained in the rough form which all research originally assumes." Marx then goes on to mention the volume now offered: "I enclose a photograph herewith, because the copy of the French edition that goes off to you at the same time as this letter only contains a very far from flattering likeness done from a London photograph by a Parisian artist. Your most obedient Servant, Karl Marx." This letter, so frequently referenced in critical treatments of Capital, not only sheds light on the genesis of one of the most significant philosophical works to emerge in the last two centuries, but also underscores the author's openness and perhaps even his humour. Additionally, it offers an important contextual background for the presentation copy at hand. Given the nature of other examples of correspondence between the two men, it would seem that Schott and Marx regularly exchanged ideas pertaining to banking and social economy. In a letter sent from London, and dated 29 March 1878, Marx wrote to Schott: "I have, though somewhat belatedly, obtained Volume IV (Industrieactien) of the Saling, to which you so kindly drew my attention. I did not wish to reply to your letter until I had at length had time to run through the thing, and have found it very useful Finally, I have one more thing to ask of you, namely to be so kind, provided it is not too time-consuming, as to let me have a list of the names of Perrot's published writings on the subject of joint-stock companies, etc." Given the tenor of this letter, it would seem that Marx quite relied on Schott for information relating to the financial theories of the day, and that Schott was eager to supply Marx with literature relevant to his work. Le Capital was published in France in 44 "livraisons" between August 1872 and May 1875. Marx began revising Capital for the second German edition in December 1871, which was also the month in which Lachâtre agreed to publish a French edition. In January 1872 Marx recruited Joseph Roy to prepare a French translation and concluded a publishing agreement with Lachâtre. As well as making important revisions for the second German edition, Marx began "to revise, indeed rewrite, the translation" (Draper, p. 174) over the next three years. While the second German edition was published in 1873, Marx continued to exert strict control over the French edition, making additions and corrections to the galley proofs for the parts even as they were being published (Draper, p. 190). He was very clear about its unique value as distinct from the second German edition and strongly advised that even those familiar with the German language editions consult the French edition for further accuracy. For this reason these changes were "taken into account when at length the first English translation, by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling, appeared in London, in 1887, four years after Marx's death, under the editorship of Engels" (PMM). When the final fascicule was printed in November 1875, the complete set was published in 10,000-11,000 copies. From certain indications found in the correspondence of Marx, it seems likely that the French government, who must have frowned upon the appearance of Das Kapital in French, tried to prevent its publication, which for a certain time was interrupted by the authorities. When the publication was finally completed, rumours abounded that its sale was to be forbidden and the publisher Lachâtre hesitated to sell copies. As noted, any presentation copy of Capital is exceedingly rare. - The volume present here ranks among the finest of these presentation copies. The correspondence surrounding it yields a particularly unique and significant sense of historical context, offering an important point of association related to one o.

Tall quarto (277 x 194 mm). Contemporary black quarter roan, dark brown pebble-grain cloth over boards, green page marker. 2 engraved title pages, 1 engraved portrait frontispiece with autograph, facsimile autograph letter from Marx to the publisher, dated 18 March 1872, with Lachatre's reply to verso, engraved head- and tailpieces. Text in two columns. First edition in French, first issue, a fine presentation copy, inscribed by Marx to the Frankfurt banker Sigmund Schott, with whom Marx exchanged ideas central to his philosophies and work: "Mr Sigmund Schott, de la part l'auteur, Londres, 3 Novembre 1877" to the first engraved title page. Presentation copies of Capital are exceptionally rare, with only seven others having been offered at auction in the last 60 years, just two of those being the first edition in French as here. Sigmund Schott was a German bank director and journalist. He was also a literary critic, bibliophile, and corresponded with the some of the most important intellectual figures of the epoch. In certain editions of Marx's correspondence, Schott was misidentified as the German politician (1818-1895), with whom he shared the same name. As a result, the importance of the relationship between the young banker and the philosopher has perhaps been underexposed. Schott and Marx wrote to one another on a number of occasions over several months, and in the letter that originally accompanied the present volume - and bears the same date as the inscription: 3 November 1877 - Marx details his approach to constructing Capital. "Dear Sir," Marx begins. "My best thanks for the packages. Your offer to arrange for other material to be sent to me from France, Italy, Switzerland, etc. is exceedingly welcome, although I feel reluctant to make undue claims on you. I don't at all mind waiting, by the by, nor will this in any way hold up my work, for I am applying myself to various parts of the book in turn. In fact, privatim, I began by writing Capital in a sequence (starting with the 3rd, historical section) quite the reverse of that in which it was presented to the public, saving only that the first volume - the last I tackled - was got ready for the press straight away, whereas the two others remained in the rough form which all research originally assumes." Marx then goes on to mention the volume now offered: "I enclose a photograph herewith, because the copy of the French edition that goes off to you at the same time as this letter only contains a very far from flattering likeness done from a London photograph by a Parisian artist. Your most obedient Servant, Karl Marx." This letter, so frequently referenced in critical treatments of Capital, not only sheds light on the genesis of one of the most significant philosophical works to emerge in the last two centuries, but also underscores the author's openness and perhaps even his humour. Additionally, it offers an important contextual background for the presentation copy at hand. Given the nature of other examples of correspondence between the two men, it would seem that Schott and Marx regularly exchanged ideas pertaining to banking and social economy. In a letter sent from London, and dated 29 March 1878, Marx wrote to Schott: "I have, though somewhat belatedly, obtained Volume IV (Industrieactien) of the Saling, to which you so kindly drew my attention. I did not wish to reply to your letter until I had at length had time to run through the thing, and have found it very useful Finally, I have one more thing to ask of you, namely to be so kind, provided it is not too time-consuming, as to let me have a list of the names of Perrot's published writings on the subject of joint-stock companies, etc." Given the tenor of this letter, it would seem that Marx quite relied on Schott for information relating to the financial theories of the day, and that Schott was eager to supply Marx with literature relevant to his work. Le Capital was published in France in 44 "livraisons" between August 1872 and May 1875. Marx began revising Capital for the second German edition in December 1871, which was also the month in which Lachâtre agreed to publish a French edition. In January 1872 Marx recruited Joseph Roy to prepare a French translation and concluded a publishing agreement with Lachâtre. As well as making important revisions for the second German edition, Marx began "to revise, indeed rewrite, the translation" (Draper, p. 174) over the next three years. While the second German edition was published in 1873, Marx continued to exert strict control over the French edition, making additions and corrections to the galley proofs for the parts even as they were being published (Draper, p. 190). He was very clear about its unique value as distinct from the second German edition and strongly advised that even those familiar with the German language editions consult the French edition for further accuracy. For this reason these changes were "taken into account when at length the first English translation, by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling, appeared in London, in 1887, four years after Marx's death, under the editorship of Engels" (PMM). When the final fascicule was printed in November 1875, the complete set was published in 10,000-11,000 copies. From certain indications found in the correspondence of Marx, it seems likely that the French government, who must have frowned upon the appearance of Das Kapital in French, tried to prevent its publication, which for a certain time was interrupted by the authorities. When the publication was finally completed, rumours abounded that its sale was to be forbidden and the publisher Lachâtre hesitated to sell copies. As noted, any presentation copy of Capital is exceedingly rare. - The volume present here ranks among the finest of these presentation copies. The correspondence surrounding it yields a particularly unique and significant sense of historical context, offering an important point of association related to o.

Hardcover. Etat : Very Good. The Sir William Jardine archive is a comprehensive collection encompassing several elements: a group of seven clamshell boxes containing 57 prints, drawings, and watercolors on paper prepared for British Salmonidae; an album of nature sketches with landscape compositions designed for Jardine s printed works, and Jardine s own copy of the exceedingly rare British Salmonidae. Together this archive is a visual story of creating this scientific and artistic feat celebrating sport fishing. The three parts of this remarkable archive are described in full on the following pages. A MAGNIFICENT ARCHIVE OF ORIGINAL MATERIAL: ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, WATERCOLORS, AND PROOFS FOR JARDINE S MAGNUM OPUS THE BRITISH SALMONIDAE. 1839-1841 57 exceptionally fine prints, drawings, and watercolors on paper. A fine and important collection relating to one of the finest of salmonid works and illustrating the artistic history of Jardine s monograph from conception to completion. This archive comprises hand-colored engraved plates, some with variant coloring, original pencil drawings, original watercolors, intermediary states of the plates with engraved fish and watercolor backgrounds, uncolored proofs of the plates on India paper mounted, hand-colored proof plates inscribed to the colorist Bayfield, and related drawings and engravings, all mounted. [WITH]: JARDINE, Sir William (1800-1874). Sketches from Nature by W. Jardine Bart. 1841 . Folio (19 x 13 1/4 inches). EXCEPTIONALLY FINE ALBUM OF 37 ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR AND 37 PENCIL DRAWINGS BY JARDINE depicting highland and lowland Scottish scenery sketched by Jardine on his fishing tours, including his Sutherland tour, the Tweed and his home territory of Dumfriesshire and the Solway Coast, tipped-in to an album, mounted one and two to a page (9 loose), with his manuscript captions and dates in ink below each. Contemporary half red morocco, tan embossed cloth, gilt (a little scuffed at the edges). Provenance: According to a note signed by Christopher T. Dalgety, loosely inserted: Sir William Jardine (1800-1874); his eldest daughter Jane Home Jardine; her son William Jardine Herries Maxwell (1852 1933), of Munches in Buittle (both sons killed in action at Gallipoli in 1915); Munches estate sale ca 1945; Christopher Thomas Dalgety (1907-1980), an ornithologist and explorer in the Arctic in the 1920s and 1930s, his sale Bonhams Edinburgh, 18th May 2016, lot 103. [WITH]: JARDINE, Sir William (1800-1874). British Salmonidae. Edinburgh: W.H.Lizars, 1839-1841. 2 parts (all published) in one volume. Folio (27 2/8 x 20 inches). 12 EXCEPTIONALLY FINE hand colored engraved plates by Lizars after Jardine (laid down on linen), each with accompanying leaf of letterpress text, three engraved vignettes, including one hand-colored. Modern half brown morocco original brown cloth boards. Provenance: According to a note signed by Christopher T. Dalgety, loosely inserted: Sir William Jardine (1800-1874); his eldest daughter Jane Home Jardine; her son William Jardine Herries Maxwell (1852 1933), of Munches in Buittle (both sons killed in action at Gallipoli in 1915); Munches estate sale ca 1945; Christopher Thomas Dalgety (1907-1980), an ornithologist and explorer in the Arctic in the 1920s and 1930s, his sale Bonhams Edinburgh, 18th May 2016, lot 103. Sir William Jardine, was the 7th Baronet of Jardine Hall near Lockerbie, Scotland. Jardine was the leading authority on salmon and trout in the British Isles. An excellent sportsman, his preeminent knowledge of the species was intimate and personal, and his expertise in the field was so noted that in 1860 he was appointed to the Royal Commission on the Salmon Fisheries of England and Wales. Jardine, perhaps best known for his Naturalist s Library series, was also an ardent angler. His estates were in the fertile fishing areas near the rivers Annan and Tweed.CONTACT GALLERY FOR FULL CATALOGUE Loca: 6.5V.3D, 6.3BH.12D, 6.3BH.12C.

No binding. Etat : Very Good. Autograph Letter Signed, to Frederick Phile, March 15, 1789, Mount Vernon, Virginia. Washington's retained copy, written on blank leaf of Phile's letter to him as evidenced by partial address on verso: "[George] Washington / [Moun]t Vernon." 1 p., 8 x 6 1/4 in. "I will go into Office totally free from pre-engagements of every nature whatsoever, and in recommendations to appointments will make justice & the public good, my sole objects."The still unofficial President-elect George Washington writes in March 1789 about his determination to go into the presidency with no pre-existing commitments, ready to purely judge the"justice & the public good" of every appointment. He would extend that sentiment to every aspect of his presidency.Washington referred to the standard of "justice & the public good" only a few times, and the present letter is the only example we know of that has ever reached the market. Complete Transcript Mount Vernon Mar 15th 1789Sir, Yesterdays Post brought me your favor of the 7th - In answer to it, I will briefly observe that if the Administration of the New Government should inevitably fall upon me that I will go into Office totally free from pre-engagements of every nature whatsoever, and shall in recommendations to appointments ^will^ make justice & the public good, my sole objects. Resolving to pursue this rule, invariably -I shall[1] add nothing more on the subject of your application until the time shall arrive when the merits ^and justice^ of every claimt shall be most [?]actually attended to so far as the matter depends upon ^[?] appear - when, so far as the matter shall depends upon me, the principles above mentioned shall to the best of my judgment^ have their full operation. I am Sir, Your Most Obedt and most Hble Ser. Go Washington[File Note on verso in Washington's hand:]To Doctr Fred: Phile / 15th Mar. 1789See related George Washington Inaugural Address Collection here. Historical BackgroundOn June 21, 1788, the United States Constitution became the official framework for the government of the United States when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it. Four days later, Virginia ratified it, and a month later, New York became the eleventh state to ratify the Constitution.[2]Between mid-December 1788 and mid-January 1789,[3] either by popular vote or by the state legislature, ten states chose a combined total of seventy-three electors.[4] On February 4, sixty-nine of those electors cast two ballots each in their states for the President and Vice President of the United States. The legislatures counted the votes and sent their tallies to the new federal Congress, which was expected to convene at Federal Hall in New York on March 4, 1789. Although both houses initially convened on that date, the House of Representatives did not achieve a quorum until April 1, and the Senate did not reach a quorum and organize itself until April 6. Later that day, the Senate, in the presence of the House, counted the electoral votes. Each of the sixty-nine present electors gave one vote to George Washington, making his election to the presidency unanimous. Thirty-four electors voted for John Adams, thereby selecting him as Vice President.[5]The Senate appointed Secretary of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and keeper of the Great Seal of the United States Charles Thomson to notify George Washington of his election as President.Well before the official counting, Washington had received reports from various sources making it clear that his election was a virtual certainty, and Washington began making preparations. Charles Thomson traveled to Virginia with official notice of Washington's election, arriving at Mount Vernon on April 14. Two days later, Washington left Mount Vernon for New York City, the temporary capital of the fledgling nation. Thomson accompanied him on the return journey. Washington arrived in New York City amid great fanfare on April 23 and w. (See website for full description). Autograph Letter Signed.

No Binding. Etat : Very Good. Gouache and Watercolor on paper in gold leaf frame (15 ¾ x 20 ½ inches visible; 24 x 29 inches framed). THE FIRST VIEW OF DC AND GEORGETOWN DRAWN BY GEORGE WASHINGTON'S FAVORITE ARTIST This excellent view is taken from above Georgetown on the District side, and shows Analostan Island (the former designation for Theodore Roosevelt Island) in the Potomac River with Georgetown in the background on the left. This watercolor gouache is clearly a companion in style and subject of The Potomac River Breaking through the Blue Ridge and Great Falls of the Potomac, both circa 1796-1797), combining as it does topographical detail with a Romantic atmosphere. Both of these works were purchased in January 1797 from Beck s agent, Samuel Salter. They were hung in the New Room at Mount Vernon, where they may still be viewed today. George Beck is one of the earliest professional English trained landscape painters in America. Among his pioneering depictions of the American wilderness , Georgetown and the city of Washington is an important and evocative portrait of the Nation s capitol at its peak. Beck and his wife emigrated to America in 1795, drawn to the same newly settled wilderness, which Beck so successfully portrayed in his. The couple settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where Beck first painted his views of the Potomac River and achieved a tremendous amount of success. His fandom was ignited by the backing of George Washington, and following those commissions he won the patron-ship of William Hamilton, a well-known patron of English and American artists. From there Beck s popularity skyrocketed, accumulating commission after commission. In 1798, Beck moved to Philadelphia and opened a drawing school for men and women to subsidize his income; while his wife opened a ladies seminary. Despite leaving there legacy on the bustling city, their stay in Philadelphia was short lived and they soon made their way towards the beautiful American Western Frontier (Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls, Ohio, Kentucky). "The newly settled wilderness held a great appeal for beck providing the opportunity of exploring relatively unspoiled nature while living in a social milieu where he and his wife could attract patrons and students. In Kentucky he developed a freer style, and his works increasingly celebrated the unspoiled richness of the frontier. They reveal his fascination with the subjective power and mystery of nature". (Olsen) For more information on this map, or a warm welcome to see other maps and books of our collection at 72nd Street NYC, please contact Natalie Zadrozna.LAB.

First edition of "certainly the most important biological book ever written" (Freeman), one of 1250 copies. Octavo, bound in original cloth, half-title, one folding lithographed diagram, without advertisements. In very good condition with cracks to inner hinges and a touch of shelfwear. Housed in a custom clamshell box. A fine example of this landmark work. Darwin â revolutionized our methods of thinking and our outlook on the natural order of things. The recognition that constant change is the order of the universe had been finally established and a vast step forward in the uniformity of nature had been takenâ (PMM 344). â Without question a watershed work in the history of modern life sciences, Darwinâ s Origin elaborated a proposition that species slowly evolve from common ancestors through the mechanism of natural selection. As he himself expected, Darwinâ s theory became, and continues to be in some circles, the object of intense controversyâ (American Philosophical Society). â The five years [of Darwinâ s voyage on the Beagle] were the most important event in Darwinâ s intellectual life and in the history of biological science. Darwin sailed with no formal training. He returned a hard-headed man of scienceâ ¦ The experiences of his five years in the Beagle, how he dealt with them, and what they led to, built up into a process of epoch-making importance in the history of thoughtâ (PMM).

Etat : Very Good. First edition. - A MAJOR TOLKIEN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT ON THE CENTRAL THEMES OF HIS WORK AND CONTAINING A VARIANT HISTORY OF THE FIRST AGE; LIKELY THE MOST SIGNIFICANT MANUSCRIPT IN PRIVATE HANDS -A VISUALLY STUNNING HAND-DRAWN CHART, "KINSHIP OF THE HALF-ELVEN," TRACING THE GENEALOGY FROM FËANOR TO ELROND, ARWEN, AND ARAGORN -A LONG, REVEALING LETTER TO EILEEN ELGAR PRESENTING THE MANUSCRIPTS, REFLECTING ON THE RECENT DEATH OF C.S. LEWIS AND DISCUSSING LITERATURE AND WRITING, INCLUDING A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF HIS MIDDLE-EARTH POEM "FASTITOCALON". "Concerning 'The Hoard'" Manuscript: Responding to Eileen Elgar's letter about the meaning of Tolkien's poem "The Hoard," Tolkien here pens what he calls "a long screed" discussing the poem's themes and its relationship to his writing. Only recently published in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book(1962), "The Hoard" was a bardic poem telling of an ancient elven hoard successively claimed by a dwarf, a dragon, and a man - each of whom is killed in consequence of his feverish greed for the hoard. Tolkien here calls The Hoard "one of the main strands in The Silmarillion," and he explains that this work-in-process "concerns the great hoard of Nargothrond, which contained much of the treasure and works of Elvish art that had been preserved from the wreckage of the Elven-kingdoms and the assaults of the Dark Lord from his unassailable stronghold of Thangorodrim in the North." In endeavoring to give his correspondent a fuller idea of "what my proposed book, The Silmarillion, is about," Tolkien then proceeds to give a substantive account of the fate of this legendary hoard and its three great gemstones, the light-capturing silmarils magically crafted by Fëanor. The story arc and First-Age history Tolkien here charts differs in many subtle ways - especially in its rerouting of the Ruin of Doriath - from that found in The Simarillion and other related accounts of First Age history (e.g. the story of Nauglafring, as published in The Book of Lost Tales). But Tolkien's essay "Concerning 'The Hoard'" is much more than a behind-the-scenes look into "The Hoard". The nature of obsession, discussed so vividly in "Concerning 'The Hoard'", is at the core of Tolkien's most celebrated works, namely: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, and "Concerning 'The Hoard'"provides vital insight into the dramatic underpinnings of these works. After explaining in this manuscript how "dark and secret hoards" were originally formed and indicating that such hoards are very often "possessed and guarded by a dragon," Tolkien affirms that such "dragon-hoards were cursed, and bred in men the dragon-spirit: in possessors an obsession with mere ownership, in others a fierce desire to take the treasure for their own by violence and treachery." Beyond the insight such a "dragon-spirit" offers for the immediate analysis of The Silmarillion - where even the noblest of heroes succumb to its obsessive poison and go to extreme lengths to obtain the silmarils - we see the "dragon-spirit" driving the actions surrounding the Arkenstone in The Hobbit and The One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's essay gives new meaning to the dragon Smaug's role in The Hobbit (and the reveling delight he takes in his hoard) and it further helps us understand the basis for Thorin Oakenshield's insatiable avarice and his fixation on recovering a treasure that he had never seen. InThe Lord of the Ringswe see Bilbo's reluctance to relinquish the One Ring and many of the early pages are occupied by Gandolf's explication to Frodo of how the Ring has affected its bearers. And who, after all, is Gollum but one who succumbed entirely to the "dragon-spirit"? A major unpublished essay, "Concerning 'The Hoard'" is a highly important addition to Tolkien's known work. Broadening the characters and events of Middle-earth history, this manuscript affords us insight into Tolkien's evolving conception of the First Age. This manuscript was unknown to Christopher Tolkien at the time he was piecing together The Silmarillion, and one can only imagine the contribution its text might have made to that work. But even beyond its significance for The Silmarillion, this manuscript offers a penetrating view of how Tolkien conceived the "dragon-spirit" that is a driving force in all his major works. Encapsulating as it does the core history and thematic at the heart of Tokien's legendary works, "Concerning 'The Hoard'" is, to the best of our knowledge, the most significant Tolkien manuscript in private hands. "Kinship of the Half-Elven" Genealogical Tree: Tolkien's 1964 letter to Eileen Elgar also included the offered autograph genealogical tree entitled "Kinship of the Half-Elven". Tolkien was in the habit of creating itemized documents to help him keep track of the rich layers of detail present in his complex narrative structures. This particular tree begins with Fëanor in the early days of the First Age and traces his descent through the House of Hador and the House of Bëor to the Third-Age figures - Elrond, Arwen and Aragorn - we encounter inThe Lord of the Rings. The chart is a stunning visual companion to his work, meticulously and stunningly drawn with black, green, and red ink and pencil. Letter to Eileen Elgar: Tolkien's letter of March 5, 1964, presenting the chart and manuscript to Eileen Elgar, begins on a somber note, with Tolkien explaining that he had been through some troubling times, highlighting that "The death of my friend (C.S. Lewis - whom I do not think you have confused with C.D. Lewis) was the first blow." He then discusses "Concerning 'The Hoard', hoping that it will give Elgar a better idea of what "my proposed book, 'The Silmarillion' is all about." The rest of the letter is a detailed discussion of various aspects of writing and publishing: complaining about proofreaders' attempted changes to passages in The Lord of the Rings, an analysis of certain phrases with an explication.

Small 4to (140 x 195 mm). 91 leaves, 149 written pages in two hands, the main body of the text complete, up to 29 lines per page, ruled space 85 x 155 mm. Incipit: "In nomine domini amen. Noch dem also gesprochen ist daß alle kunst kunftigk ist von got und ist by im on ende.". Rubrics touched in red, calligraphic initials in red and some with flourishing, 25 watercolour illustrations of scientific apparatus, 10 mathematical and architectural diagrams in pen. 15th century German calf over wooden boards, tooled in blind with vertical rows of hunting scenes within a triple-filet frame, remains of two fore-edge clasps. Stored in custom-made half morocco clamshell case. A Renaissance alchemist's handbook, quoting Al-Razi by name and deeply rooted in the Islamic tradition of alchemical art. An intriguing manuscript which bears witness to early practical chemistry in 15th century Germany and to the immense influence of Arabic alchemy, illustrated with talented watercolour diagrams of the associated apparatus. - Indeed, the word 'alchemy' itself is derived from the Arabic word 'al-kimia', and it was Al-Razi who claimed that "the study of philosophy could not be considered complete, and a learned man could not be called a philosopher, until he has succeeded in producing the alchemical transmutation". Alchemy and chemistry often overlapped in the early Islamic world, but "for many years Western scholars ignored Al-Razi's praise for alchemy, seeing alchemy instead as a pseudoscience, false in its purposes and fundamentally wrong in its methods, closer to magic and superstition than to the 'enlightened' sciences. Only in recent years have pioneering studies conducted by historians of science, philologists, and historians of the book demonstrated the importance of alchemical practices and discoveries in creating the foundations of modern chemistry" (Ferrario). The quest to transmute base metals into gold and to obtain the Philosophers' Stone was a practical as well as theoretical pursuit, as attested by the existence of this manuscript. The main body of the text opens on fol. 5 with an introduction to the art of alchemy, whose practice requires reference to the ancient authorities. Recipes for the various pigments, solutions, acids and alkalis are listed in groups, before descriptions are given of the planets relevant to the alchemist's art, starting with Saturn, and their effect on the elements, again with reference to the ancient authorities including Al-Razi, Origen, Aristotle, Albertus Magnus, and Hermes Trismegistus. There follow notes on the ease of obtaining various elements, before lists of alchemical compounds - including 'sal petri' and 'aqua lunaris' - are grouped according to their nature. Practical instructions, organised by chapter, begin on fol. 17v with the manufacture of vermillion and 'spangrün'; the first of the illustrations depicts two vessels for the burning of cinnabar. Further recipes involve the burning of various substances - illustrated with drawings of furnaces, cucurbits and other vessels, and distillation apparatus - before moving on to the manufacture of acids, bases and oils, mentioning the use of quicksilver, then, finally, turning to the manufacture of gold. The end of the text on fol. 69 is marked with the words 'Alchimia & Scientia' in red ink with calligraphic flourishes, above a floral device. - Collation: written by another scribe and bound before the alchemist's handbook (ff. 5-69) are astrological calculations, including those charting the trajectories of the Sun and the Moon (ff. 1-4, obviously incomplete). At the end, 9 leaves with geometrical calculations, illustrated with pen diagrams (ff. 70v-78, apparently incomplete, 2 leaves loose). The last 12 leaves are blanks (ff. 79-91). - Condition: The binding is sound and intact, but shows significant losses to the upper cover; spine entirely lost. Two leaves loose at the end of the manuscript, outer margins waterstained and tattered, surface soiling most notable to f. 1. Occasionally loose and split at gatherings; presence of bookworm damage on some pages; very occasional wax stains. - Provenance: 1) The script, watermark and binding indicate that the manuscript was made in Germany in the final two decades of the 15th century. The watermark visible on certain pages - a heart beneath a crown, above 'Ib' - is closest to a motif widely used in Germany around 1480-1500 (cf. Piccard 32464-32481), and the binding is contemporary. The pastedowns, taken from a Litany of Saints, are also roughly contemporary. 2) This compendium of cryptic knowledge seems to have lain undisturbed for many years after its compilation: the contemporary stamped leather binding is preserved and no booklabels or ownership inscriptions mark the manuscript changing hands. 3) Zisska & Schauer, 4 May 2010, lot 6. 4) Braunschweig Collection, Paris. - The first pigment recipe books in German would not be published until the 1530s (cf. Schießl, Die deutschsprachige Literatur zu Werkstoffen und Techniken der Malerei, 1989). While the manual at hand never appeared in print, a much later manuscript of the same text, apparently copied by no less an authority than the botanist Hieronymus Bock (1498-1554), survives in Heidelberg's University Library under the title of "Ordenlicher proces der waren alten heimlichen kunst der alchymey in drey bucher gestelt" ("Alchemistisches Kunstbuch", Cod. Pal. germ. 294, dated to the middle or third quarter of the 16th century). Unlike the vividly coloured and deftly shaded illustrations in the present volume from the 15th century, the unsophisticated pen drawings in the later Palatina manuscript were clearly executed by the scribe himself rather than by a trained artist. Also, our manual contains additional illustrations at the end, showing some of the most necessary equipment on a double-page spread, as well as five additional pages of recipes for "lutum sapientiae", "postulatz golt" etc., some parts written in a secr.

12 parts in 6 volumes. Folio (18 x 10 6/8 inches). Half-titles. 12 title-pages with engraved vignettes, 432 EXCEPTIONALLY FINE engraved plates with original hand-colour, some HEIGHTENED IN GOLD, SILVER AND BRONZE to reflect the metallic sheen of fish scales. Contemporary tree calf with the arms of the Duchesse de Berry (the arms of France and Spain) stamped in gilt on each cover, all edges gilt (foot of spine of volume III chipped with minor loss, other extremities with minor scuffing). Provenance: with the supra libros of Maria Carolina Ferdinanda Luisa, the Duchesse de Berry (1798-1870) on each cover; Belgian Royal Library. "the finest illustrated work on fishes ever produced" (Nissen) THE DUCHESSE DE BERRY'S COPY of the first edition in French, published contemporaneously with the German edition. A FINE AND ATTRACTIVE, COMPLETE COPY OF BLOCH'S MONUMENTAL WORK. Bloch was a German medical doctor and naturalist. He is generally considered one of the most important ichthyologists of the 18th century and is best known for his encyclopedic work in ichthyology. The drawings were taken from Bloch's collection of some 1500 fish, the largest collection of its time, which he put together from purchases made at home and from returning travellers and missionaries from all over the world including Sir William Hamilton in Naples. ". the finest illustrated work on fishes ever produced. The plates, by a variety of artists and engravers, are outstandingly coloured, and are heightened with gold, silver, and bronze to produce the metallic sheen of fish scales" (Nissen). From the distinguished library of the Duchesse de Berry, daughter of the future King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his first wife Maria Clementina of Austria. In 1816 she married Charles Ferdinand d'Artois, Duc de Berry, the heir to the French throne. Only the year before his uncle Louis XVII had been restored to the French throne, and on this death in 1824, the Duc's father became the last Bourbon monarch, as Charles X. tragically the Duc did not inherit the crown, but was assassinated at the Paris Opera in 1820. The Duc and Duchesse's only son, the Comte de Chambord, "the miracle baby" was born seven months after his father's murder and became the Legitimist Bourbon heir. During this period the Duchesse became patron to the world's greatest botanical artist Pierre-Joseph Redoute. Not only did she support him with the purchase of his celebrated 170 watercolours of 'Roses' on vellum, but she also obtained for him the post of 'maitre de Dessin' at the Museum of Natural History in 1824, even becoming one of his students. (Nissen) Nissen ZBI 416; Wood p. 244. Catalogued by Kate Hunter.

No Binding. Etat : Very Good. c 1795 - 1798. Gouache and Watercolor on paper in gold leaf frame (15 x 19 ½ inches sight; 24 x 29 inches framed). THE BIRTH OF WASHINGTON, D.C. An exceptionally fine original gouache on paper of the city of Washington taken from the Eastern branch of the Potomac River, looking north. This watercolor gouache is clearly a companion in style and subject of The Potomac River Breaking through the Blue Ridge and Great Falls of the Potomac, both circa 1796-1797), combining as it does topographical detail with a Romantic atmosphere. Both of these works were purchased in January 1797 from Beck's agent, Samuel Salter. They were hung in the New Room at Mount Vernon, where they may still be viewed today. Lauded as one of the greatest predecessors of the Hudson River School and a favorite artist of President Washington, George Jacob Beck's artwork continues to be highly sought after today. Though listed in the 1806 Lexington directory as a "Portrait Painter," Beck is most famous for his landscape work, which unquestionably contributed to the popularity of American views during the late eighteenth and nineteenth century. He was the most experienced, if not the first of the early landscape painters to work in the United States. He is considered one of the earliest professional English trained landscape painters in America. Among his 'pioneering depictions of the American wilderness', this view of the city of Washington is an important and evocative portrait of the Nation's capitol at its peak. Beck and his wife emigrated to America in 1795, drawn to the same newly settled wilderness, which Beck so successfully portrayed in his. The couple settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where Beck first painted his views of the Potomac River and achieved a tremendous amount of success. His fandom was ignited by the backing of George Washington, and following those commissions he won the patronship of William Hamilton, a well-known patron of English and American artists. From there Beck's popularity skyrocketed, accumulating commission after commission. In 1798, Beck moved to Philadelphia and opened a drawing school for men and women to subsidize his income; while his wife opened a ladies' seminary. Despite leaving there legacy on the bustling city, their stay in Philadelphia was short lived and they soon made their way towards the beautiful American Western Frontier (Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls, Ohio, Kentucky). "The newly settled wilderness held a great appeal for beck providing the opportunity of exploring relatively unspoiled nature while living in a social milieu where he and his wife could attract patrons and students. In Kentucky he developed a freer style, and his works increasingly celebrated the unspoiled richness of the frontier. They reveal his fascination with the subjective power and mystery of nature." (Olsen).

First edition. THE FIRST MODERN WORLD ATLAS HAND-COLOURED AND HEIGHTENED IN GOLD. Fourth Latin edition of the first modern world atlas, and a copy hand-coloured and heightened in gold. First published in 1570, the Theatrum is the first atlas to contain maps printed in a uniform style and format and to display a catalogue of the authors whose source Ortelius used in the drawing of the maps. Ortelius's atlas "set a standard by which subsequent collections would be judged and compared" (Short). Even though it was the most expensive work published at the time, it proved an instant success with four versions of the first edition being printed in 1570 alone. Several editions were printed at the Officina Plantiniana at the end of the 16th century and from 1585 Ortelius began to include historical maps in a section called Paregon. The maps and plates in the Parergon may be considered "the most outstanding engravings depicting the wide-spread interest in classical geography in the 16th century" (Van der Krogt). The present 1592 edition, the fourth Latin edition, contains 108 maps as well as the 26 maps and views of the Parergon, as well as an index called Nomenclator Ptolemaicus that lists all the names mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographia. New to this edition are the maps of Flanders and Brabant. "This is the first edition of the Theatrum with a clear division into three parts: (1) the Atlas itself, (2) the Parergon, and (3) the Nomenclator. The Parergon had for the first time its own title page. For this title page Plantin made use of the woodblock he had used for the title page of Genesis in the Biblia Regia, printed in 1569-72. Printing started in July 1590, but because of a shortage of paper the printing lasted longer than expected. The Nomenclator was printed between February and May 1591 (the title page was dated 1591). The rest of the Theatrumwas printed in the summer of 1591. The first copies were delivered on 6 August 1591. The colophon however has the date 1592. The Plantin Press printed 525 copies of this edition. After this edition, only the fifth Additamentum would further enlarge the Theatrum" (Koeman). The present copy, which has all the maps in contemporary hand-colouring, has an early Spanish provenance, with marginal comments in Spanish and Latin. The text on the map of Valencia has been censored with a patch, erasing the text on the practice of Islam in Spain; this is the final edition of the text in which this passage appeared. The title of the atlas, the 'Theatre of the Earth,' references the idea of the theatre of nature, in which God's laws play out for a human audience. It is "a title that announces encyclopedic intentions of surveying all of nature to provide complete and ordered coverage" (Short), providing a mirror of nature for the service of humanity. This idea achieved such broad cultural penetration that Shakespeare's 1599 play As You Like It would declare that "All the world's a stage." Only three other complete copies with contemporary hand-colouring listed on RBH since 1984. Provenance: Ruperto de Zafra (inscription on title page and marginalia in Spanish and Latin); Christie's New York, 15 October 2021, lot 68, $237,500. "With the exception of his friend [Gerardus] Mercator, Ortelius (1527-98) was the principal cartographer of the sixteenth century. He was born to a Catholic family whose origins were in Augsburg. At the age of twenty he was admitted as an illuminator of maps into the guild of St. Luke in his native town. Soon he was able to earn his living by buying, coloring, and selling maps produced by map makers in various countries. Ortelius traveled widely in his profession; he went regularly to the Frankfurt Fair and visited Italy several times before 1558. In the period 1559-1560 he traveled through Lorraine and Poitou in the company of Mercator, who encouraged him to become a cartographer and to draw his own maps. The first product of this new activity was an eight-sheet map of the world published in 1564. In 1565 he published a map of Egypt (two sheets), in 1567 a map of Asia (two sheets), and in 1570 a map of Spain (six sheets). "The growing demand for maps of distant countries, caused by the rapidly expanding colonization and the development of commerce, had already led to the production of large collections of maps of various size and provenance, for instance, Lafreri's atlas published ca. 1553. At the suggestion of the Dutch merchant and map collector Hooftman, and of his friend Radermacher, Ortelius undertook the publication of a comprehensive atlas of the world. It appeared in May 1570 in the form of a single volume, in folio, entitled Theatrum orbis terrarum, published by Egidius Coppens Diesth and printed by Plantin in Antwerp. It contained fifty-three sheets with a total of seventy copperplate maps, most of them engraved by Frans Hoogenberg, and thirty-five leaves of text . "The Theatrum won for Ortelius the title of geographer to King Phillip II of Spain. It also secured for him a substantial income, enabling him to continue his travels to collect new material. In 1577 he visited England and Ireland, making the personal acquaintance of John Dee, Camden, Hakluyt, and other British geographers . During the later part of his life, Ortelius spent much time on classical studies . In 1584 he published Nomenclator Ptolemaicus, which dealt with place names in Ptolemy's geography, and Parergon, a collection of maps illustrating ancient history, printed by Plantin. The Nomenclator and the Parergon were incorporated into several of the later editions of the Theatrum" (DSB). "When the Theatrum appeared, European map production was shifting from Italy to Antwerp, Ortelius's home town and a center of entrepreneurial activity in Europe. 'Mapbooks' had appeared in several formats well before Ortelius first started preparing the Theatrum project. Portuguese discoveries of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were documented by manuscript charts bound together in volume form.

92 items, ca. 260 pages in all, mainly 8vo, autograph address panels to the postcards, some on Mann's printed stationery, with a few unpublished greeting cards, mainly 1894-1901, together with letters to Erna Grautoff and Karl Federn, mainly Munich and Rome and a few items from Naples, Unterach, Riva del Garda, Dresden, Bad Tölz, Oberammergau and Paris, September 1894-7 July 1925, about twelve letters incomplete (mostly undated letters from ca. 1895-1896), the first two letters with sections cut away, occasional dust-marking and splitting at folds, each letter carefully annotated in pencil by the Austrian National Library (July 1938) and some also with editorial dating (ca. 1975). Important series of ca. 90 early autograph letters and postcards, to Otto Grautoff, about Buddenbrooks, including eleven unpublished items, with poems and transcriptions about his writing, reporting his commission from the publishers Fischer to write a long prose work, specifying the mid-nineteenth-century milieu to be treated in Buddenbrooks, its length and plans to finish it, and finally giving Grautoff a long analysis of its Germanic and Wagnerian nature, discussing Goethe (with quotations of "Alles Vergängliche", from Faust), Shakespeare (Hamlet; Romeo and Juliet), Wagner (Tristan und Isolde), Turgenev, Nietzsche, his brother Hermann, Balzac, Dehmel, Fontane and many other writers, the publisher Fischer, the journals "Simplicissimus" and "Neue Deutsche Rundschau", and reporting his travels in Italy, mainly Rome during the years 1895 to 1897; the collection also includes two autograph poems by Mann, 'Weihnacht' ("O festlich Sternenzelt!"), and, in a letter of 1898, the apparently newly-composed poem 'Nur Eins' ("Wir, denen Gott den trüben Sinn gegeben"), together with a transcription from the love duet in Tristan und Isolde ("Bricht mein Blick sich."), and from Romeo and Juliet ("Komm, Nacht.Verhülle mit dem schwarzen Mantel mir"), poems by August von Platen and others. - T. Mann, Briefe an Otto Grautoff 1894-1901 und Ida Boy-Ed 1903-1928, ed. by Peter de Mendelssohn (1975).

Single volume, decorated manuscript on thick polished fibrous buff paper, in Farsi, 311 leaves (with two later endleaves at each end), 250 by 175 mm; text in four columns, 31 lines cursive naskh script, headings in red, catch-words throughout and leaves foliated in a later hand, columns double-ruled in red, a few later marginal annotations, some later ink inscriptions in red and black ink, these in Ottoman Turkish and Farsi, a few scattered ink smudges else very clean and attractive condition internally; early sixteenth-century Ottoman leather over pasteboards, covers with cut-out central medallions and corner-pieces willed with filigree detailing against a gilt backdrop, ruled in gilt, marbled paper pastedowns, an attractive early binding. islam24 08 Exceptionally early medieval manuscript copy of one of the most important works of sufi poetry by Rumi. Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) was a Persian poet, originally from greater Khorasan, who is best known for his Sufi poetry that has transcended linguistic and cultural borders since it was compiled in the 13th century, giving Rumi the alternative names 'Mawlana ' and 'Mawlavi' which translate as the 'Master'. His Mathnavi (collected poems, also the term assigned to a form of Persia meter) is a pillarstone of Sufi literature, formed of a vast collection of self-reflective lyrical anecdotes of Sufi wisdom inspired by the Qur'an and Islamic teachings. Rumi formed his verses in a spontaneous manner as a reflection of events or thoughts that appeared to him over the course of his everyday life, a style of authorship that very much set him aside from his contemporaries. The revelatory nature of the composition and loosely connected narrative of didactic stories made Rumi's works immensely popular with Eastern and Western audiences alike, making him one of the most collected poets internationally since his death in 1273 AD. The present text is an early recension of Rumi's Divan'e Kabir, also known as the Divan'e Shams'e Tabrizi, which was likely compiled in circa 1246 during the poet's time in Anatolia. The text is a collection philosophical musings by Rumi that explore themes of love and loss. Shams'e Tabrizi (1185-1248 AD) was a Sufi dervish and poet, known to have formed a close bond with Rumi when they were both in Konya, acting as his spiritual teacher and leader. In 1246 Shams abruptly left Konya and Rumi started compiling verses in the form of love letters pleading for his friend and master's return. Shams returned a year later only to disappear again in 1248, never to be seen by Rumi again and presumed dead. Upon Shams' second disappearance Rumi returned to his poetry and wrote many verses lamenting the loss of his partner. These combined collections of poems about Shams are called Divan'e Shams'e Tabrizi and portray very strong themes of Sufi love, loss, friendship and a longing for divine unity that have transcended temporal barriers to remain one of the poet's most celebrated literary achievements. The colophon at the end of this manuscript stipulates that it was copied by Khalil al-Malawi in the year 654 AH (1256 AD), however this same scribe is known to have copied multiple other manuscripts during the mid-fourteenth century: thus one can assume that the intended date for this manuscript was in fact 754 AH, when this scribe was active. This dating indicates that the manuscript was copied only 80 years after the death of Rumi, making it one of the earliest dated copies of this text. The only other dated manuscripts to precede the present example are from 1304, 1323, 1327 and 1340 respectively, making this the fifth earliest dated Rumi manuscript of the Divan'e Shams'e Tabrizi. The other records are all housed in institutions, including Tehran University Library (two copies) and another in the Museum of Konya, where they will likely remain for the foreseeable future; opportunities to acquire manuscripts of this literary significance are few and far between. Though there is little documentation about the scribe, the regular hand and composition of this manuscript indicate that Khalil al-Malawi was a skilled calligrapher in medieval Anatolia. The paper on which this manuscript has been copied is thick fibrous Damascan buff paper, polished to create a sheen and of a very high quality for this period. Although the binding is later, likely mid- to late- sixteenth century, it is a very fine example of it's kind and probably of Ottoman origin with contemporary marbled paper doubleurs.

8vo. 1 p. on single leaf. To the publisher Maurice Lachâtre concerning the dedication "To citizen Karl Marx" heading the first French edition of "Das Kapital" published between 1872 and 1875: "Dans le dernier paragraphe rectifié il y a ces mots 'ne se laisseront pas arrêter dans leur lecture par l exposition de vos méthodes analytiques'. Il y a ici un malentendu. Je n expose pas ma méthode mais je l applique dès le commencement, mais son application, dans les premiers chapitres, à l analyse de la 'marchandise', 'la valeur', 'l argent' est par la nature de la chose elle-même un peu difficile à suivre. Mais c est facile de changer 'ne se laisseront pas arrêter dans leur lecture par l application de votre méthode analytique aux premières notions de l économie politique qui par leur nature même sont très abstraites' - ou quelque chose comme ça - nous aurions avec cela fini avec les préliminaires. Ma photographie sera faite demain [.]" ("The last revised paragraph reads 'they will not let themselves be stopped from reading by the explication of your analytical methods'. This is a misunderstanding. I do not explain my method but I apply it from the beginning, but its application in the first chapters, analysing the 'commodity', 'value', 'money' is in the nature of things themselves somewhat difficult to follow. But it is easy to change to 'they will not let themselves be stopped from reading by the application of your analytical methods in the first notions of the political economy, which are by their nature very abstract' - or something similar - then we will be finished with the preliminaries. My photograph will be taken tomorrow [.]"). For the final version of the paragraph in question, Lachâtre rephrased Marx's suggestion more elegantly. - With a facsimile of Marx' letter "To citizen Maurice La Châtre", dated London, 18 March 1872, that was included among the preliminaries to the French edition of "Das Kapital" immediately before the editor's letter to Marx. - Slightly creased and buckled in the lower left corner. - Not in: Marx/Engels, Werke vol. 33 (Briefe Juli 1870 - Dezember 1874).

Oblong folio (10 x 14 2/8 inches). 30 EXCEPTIONALLY FINE drawings of which 18 are watercolor (no. 24 is in grisaille) and 12 are pencil (no. 21 faintly signed "Empson"), each with tissue guards (various sizes ca 7 x 9 inches), all mounted into an album, mounting leaves numbered 1-32 in a contemporary hand (no. 16 skipped in numeration, no. 31 removed). Contemporary dark green straight-grained morocco, with floral blind-tooled border and gilt-tooled frame, spine gilt, top edge gilt, pink silk markers (extremities a bit rubbed). Provenance: with the invoice of Francis Edwards dated October 1953, made out to; Jacques Levy, his sale, Sotheby's, 20th April 2012, lot 96 This album of beautiful original watercolours is accompanied by Empson's published account of his journey to South America: "Narratives of South America; illustrating Manners, Customs, and Scenery" (London: A.J. Valpy & William Edwards for the Author, 1836), and the portfolio of illustrations "Fac-similes of Twelve Drawings of Tropical Scenery from Sketches made on the spot by Charles Empson", with 12 plates of which 10 are etched and 2 are lithographed, all hand-colored, and mounted on cards. Empson, a print and watercolour dealer in Bath, spent three years travelling the northern part of South America, for the most part in what is now Colombia, from 1824 to 1827. "The glorious descriptions of Humboldt had induced many persons who had no other motive beyond that of beholding Nature in all her majesty, to explore these regions so gorgeously clothed in primaeval vegetation, and so abundant in every production interesting to mankind. It was my happiness to associate with many travellers who had established themselves in the Republic before any of the European nations had acknowledged the independence of Columbia, and had shared in the vicissitudes of the revolutionary war; but they found ample compensation for all their privations in the inexhaustible variety of the new world. A field so rich, and so extensive, proved an irresistible temptation to the scientific man; the produce and commercial demands of so vast a continent were not less attractive to the merchant, while scenes of grandeur and beauty offered the most fascinating allurements to the imagination of the enthusiast." (Preface). Empson was accompanied by his friend Robert Stephenson, son of the famous railway engineer. They returned with precious objects of pre-Colombian art, including some gold artifacts which Charles later exhibited in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Unfortunately, some of their possessions were lost in a shipwreck at the entrance to New York harbor. On his return Empson published his account of their adventures as "Narratives South America; Illustrating Manners, Customs, and Scenery: containing also numerous facts in Natural History, collected during a Four Years' Residence in Tropical Regions", 1836, illustrated with facsimiles of his original watercolour drawings, many of which feature in this album. 1: Fine watercolour drawing (6 4/8 x 9 4/8 inches) of the turbulent Rio Magdalena at Angostura with snow capped mountain range in the distance: "The rainy season was commencing as we left El Claro; the river rapidly swelled, and our progress was very slow: after sixteen days of hard toil, we reached Angostura, a place so called, as the river there is confined in a strait between rocks: there is at all times considerable difficulty in getting a heavy boat through this strait, but at particular seasons it is extremely dangerous. On our arrival, the river had swollen until the pressure of water above the Angostura forced the current through the strait with such violence, that it formed a cascade, or salto, as the natives call it." (page 249). 2: Fine pencil sketch (7 x 8 3/8 inches) of the Cocina or Kitchen subsequently lithographed for the published account: "The tenement represented in this sketch is variously denominated, according to the purposes to which it is applied: when the building is attached.

First edition of "the first and greatest classic of modern economic thought" (PMM). The first edition is thought to have had a press run of either 500 or 750 copies (Tribe). In his Wealth of Nations, Smith "begins with the thought that labour is the source from which a nation derives what is necessary to it. The improvement of the division of labour is the measure of productivity and in it lies the human propensity to barter and exchange. The Wealth of Nations ends with a history of economic development, a definitive onslaught on the mercantile system, and some prophetic speculations on the limits of economic control" (PMM). "The Wealth of Nations had no rival in scope or depth when published and is still one of the few works in its field to have achieved classic status, meaning simply that it has sustained yet survived repeated reading, critical and adulatory, long after the circumstances which prompted it have become the object of historical enquiry" (ODNB). Einaudi 5328; Goldsmiths' 11392; Grolier, English 57; Kress 7621; Printing and the Mind of Man 221; Rothschild 1897; Tribe 9; Vanderblue, p. 3. 2 volumes, quarto (273 x 208 mm). Contemporary calf, rebacked and recornered to style, spines richly gilt with twin black morocco labels, new endpapers. Housed in custom-made brown quarter morocco solander box by J. & S. Brockman. Bound with terminal blank leaf in Volume I and half-title in Volume II. Extremities restored, light scuffing to covers, light staining in gutter of early leaves, some foxing to contents: a very good copy.

Hardcover. Etat : Very Good. 4 volumes. 8vo (7 6/8 x 5 inches). Engraved title-page in each volume, letterpress title-pages in volume II and III., half-title in volume IV (lacking letterpress title-page and 8 leaves of preliminaries in volume one). 226 engraved plates (some folding) after drawings by P. Paillou, G. Edwards, and Desmoulins, EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH 71 WATERCOLOR PLATES and an engraved sheet of music (some minor spotting). Contemporary calf (rebacked in the 20th-century to style). Provenance: Thomas Pennant's own copy, with his manuscript notes throughout; H. Bradley Martin. "To observe and relish the wonders of nature; aided by philosophy" (Pennant) Fourth edition, revised and enlarged. THE AUTHOR'S COPY, copiously annotated throughout by him with scholarly notes, observations and recording sightings of various birds and animals in the local vicinity. EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED with original watercolor drawings of the engravings, one of the "Black Cock" bird (plate 42 volume one) by Pennant's friend and illustrator of many of his works Moses Griffith, one or two fish, and more than 60 fine pages of unsigned watercolors of shells, possibly by Paillou. In addition many of the engravings are in their proof state before letters, the captions supplied in pencil in Pennant's hand. The "British Zoology" was Pennant's first book, and was first published as a lavish two volume production in 1761-1766, all subsequent editions were smaller in format and lest costly to produce, however Pennant never compromised on the illustrations to his prolific writings on natural history and topography, as the illustrations to this the fourth edition clearly demonstrate. Pennant was the consummate naturalist of his day, interested in all that surrounded him, and wishing to educate the publish at large: "To those of a sedentary disposition, this study would not only prove agreeable, but salutary: men of that turn of mind are with difficulty drawn from their books, to partake of the necessary enjoyments of air and exercise; But this inconvenience would be remedied, could we induce them to observe and relish the wonders of nature; aided by philosophy, they would find in the woods and fields a series of objects, that would give to exercise charms unknown before." (Pennant "Preface"). Anker 392 note. From the distinguished library of H. Bradley Martin. Loca: 6.3BC.19E.

N/A. Etat : Very Good. NICOLINO CALYO (1799-1884) The Philadelphia Water Works Gouache on paper, 44 1/4x59 1/2 in. Inscribed (on the back, twice), Fairmont Executed 1835-36 EXHIBITED: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania (n.d.); Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Fairmount Waterworks 1988, p. 29 illus. in color; p. 44 checklist EX COLL.: [Harry Stone, New York]; [Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York, by 1984]; to corporate collection, until the present Nicolino Calyo's career reflects a restless spirit of enterprise and adventure. Descended in the line of the Viscontes di Calyo of Calabria, the artist was the son of a Neapolitan army officer. (See the brief biographical sketch by Kathleen Foster, prefacing catalogue entry no. 257 in Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art, exhib. cat., [1976], pp. 299-301.) Calyo received formal training in art at the Naples Academy. His career took shape amidst the backdrop of the political turbulence of early nineteenth century Italy, Spain, and France. He fled Naples after choosing the losing side of struggles of 1820-21, and, by 1829 was part of an Italian exile community in Malta. This was the keynote of a peripatetic life that saw the artist travel through Europe, to America, to Europe again, and back to America. Paradoxically, Calyo's stock-in-trade was close observation of people and places, meticulously rendered in the precise topographical tradition of his fellow countrymen, Antonio Canale (called Canaletto) and Francesco Guardi. In search of artistic opportunity and in pursuit of a living, Calyo left Malta, and, by 1834, was on the opposite side of the great Atlantic Ocean, in Baltimore, Maryland. He advertised his skills in the April 16, 1835, edition of the Baltimore American, offering "remarkable views executed from drawings taken on the spot by himself, . in which no pains or any resource of his art has been neglected, to render them accurate in every particular" (as quoted in The Art Gallery and The Gallery of the School of Architecture, University of Maryland, College Park, 350 Years of Art & Architecture in Maryland [1984], p. 35). Favoring gouache on paper as his medium, Calyo rendered faithful visual images of familiar locales executed with a degree of skill and polish that was second nature for European academically-trained artists. Indeed, it was the search for this graceful fluency that made American artists eager to travel to Europe and that led American patrons to seek out the works of ambitious newcomers. On June 16, 1835, the Baltimore Republican reported that Calyo was on his way north to Philadelphia and New York to paint views of those cities. Calyo arrived in New York just in time to witness the great fire of December 1835, which destroyed much of the downtown business district. He sketched the fire as it burned, producing a series of gouache images that combined his sophisticated European painting style with the truth and urgency of on-the-spot observation. Two of his images were given broad currency when they were reproduced in aquatint by William James Bennett. The New-York Historical Society owns two large Calyo gouaches of the fire. From 1838 until 1855, Calyo listed himself in New York City directories, as a painter, as a portrait painter, as an art instructor, and in partnership with his sons, John (1818-1893) and later, the considerably younger Hannibal (1835-1883). Between 1847 and 1852 Calyo exhibited scenes from the Mexican War and a panorama of the Connecticut River in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and New Orleans. He spent some time in Spain as court painter to Queen Maria Cristina, the result of his continuing European connections, but by 1874 was back in America, where he remained until his death. Between 1819 and 1822 the city of Philadelphia dammed the Schuylkill River to build the Fairmount Water Works, intended to insure a clean water supply to the growing town. In 1844, the municipality began to.

Folio (300 x 406 mm). Italian manuscript on vellum and paper. 233 ff., text in two columns of 50 to 56 lines, ornate lettering. The first 216 ff. consist of quires of 6 ff., each comprising 2 outer leaves of vellum in which are inserted 4 ff. of paper. The last 17 ff. have 7 vellum leaves. Two additional vellum leaves for the endpapers. Numerous finely drawn red and blue initials and 38 initials and colour and gilt. Bound in early 18th century full vellum. First part (of two) of Bartolus's commentary on the Infortiatum, the second part of the Digest or Pandects. The subjects under discussion in this part include matrimonial law, divorce, dowries, guardianship, wills, and intestate succession. This early 15th century manuscript is finely illuminated with initials in colours and gilt; the opening initial shows a jurist handing a scroll to a woman. The manuscript is remarkable not only for the additional commentary provided in the margins by a contemporary scholar, but also for the numerous occasional drawings he has casually sketched in the margins, often of a whimsical and sometimes drastic nature: there are several expressive caricatures and grotesque faces; a passage discussing a recovery of the dowry following a divorce shows a man plunging a dagger into the head of his (ex-)wife. - Explicit on fol. 229: ''Explicit prima pars lecture Bartoli super Inforciato. Deo gratias et beatissime Marie ejusque genetrici et virgini Katerine''. The 1406 date on the binding does not appear in the explicit and may be taken from the 5 pages of glosses and text added at the end. - Bartolus de Saxoferrato (1313/14-57), who taught at Perugia and Pisa, was one of the principal authors in the transmission of Roman law. His commentaries on the Code of Justinian were frequently republished until the 17th century. The Manuscripta Juridica database hosted by the Max-Planck-Institut für europäische Rechtsgeschichte lists about 40 copies of this first part preserved in public libraries up to the year 1500. - Margins a bit trimmed (occasionally touching marginalia). Provenance: from the manuscript collection of Thomas Phillipps, with his MS no. 4420 on the front vellum flyleaf; sold at Sotheby's sale of his collection held in June 1908 (lot 68). - Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in bibliotheca D. Thomae Phillipps (Middle Hill, 1837), 4420.

First edition; 2 vols, 4to (31.5 x 24.5 cm); contemporary marginal annotations in pen, with half-title to vol. II, ad. for 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments' to title verso vol. I, publisher's ad. to vol. II 4F2 verso, errata vol. II [A2] verso, cancels vol. I M3, U3, 2Z3, 3A4 and 3O4, and vol. II D1 and 3Z4, vol. II p.288 misprinted 289; contemporary gilt-ruled sprinkled calf, rebacked but retaining original red and green morocco lettering-pieces, bottom and fore-edges untrimmed, wide margins (circa 6.5 cm), occasional spotting and soiling, minor marginal tears, mostly repaired, internal joints reinforced with tape; [12], 510; [4], 587, [1]pp; signatures: A4 a2 B-3T3 (bound without terminal blank); [A]2 B-4F2. The first edition of the 'first and greatest classic of modern economic thought' (PMM). Smith (d.1790) spent ten years writing and perfecting The Wealth of Nations, the popularity of which surpassed its publisher's expectations upon release; the estimated supply of between 500 and 750 first edition copies was exhausted within the first six months of printing, and four further editions were issued within Smith's lifetime. As the title explains, the work is fundamentally an investigation into what makes certain nations prosperous. Smith's originality lies in locating the roots of this comparative wealth in the specialisation of labour which had occurred in developed economies, for the 'annual labour of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniencies of life which it annually consumes, and which consist always, either in the immediate produce of that labour, or in what is purchased with that produce from other nations' (Introduction). Our copy with contemporary marginal annotations summarising Smith's arguments as the text progresses. These aides-mémoire include key observations such as the 'Principle of division = the propensity to exchange.' (p.16), and that 'labour is the real measure of exchangeable value' (p.35). 'The history of economic theory up to the end of the nineteenth century consists of two parts: the mercantilist phase which was based not so much on a doctrine as on a system of practice which grew out of social conditions; and the second phase which saw the development of the theory that the individual had the right to be unimpeded in the exercise of economic activity. While it cannot be said that Smith invented the latter theory. his work is the first major expression of it. He begins with the thought that labour is the source from which a nation derives what is necessary to it. The improvement of the division of labour is the measure of productivity and in it lies the human propensity to barter and exchange. Labour represents the three essential elements wages, profit and rent and these three also constitute income. From the working of the economy, Smith passes to its matter 'stock' which compasses all that man owns either for his own consumption or for the return which it brings him. The Wealth of Nations ends with a history of economic development, a definitive onslaught on the mercantile system, and some prophetic speculations on the limits of economic control' (PMM). ESTC T96668; Kress 7261; Rothschild 1897; PMM 221.

10 volumes, folio (18 1/2 x 13 1/4 in.; 464 x 343 mm). 973 fine hand-colored plates drawn and engraved by François Nicolaus Martinet under the supervision of Edme Daubenton, text within decorative borders. Contemporary half red straight-grained morocco (extremities scuffed, bookplates removed from the front paste-downs). Provenance: George M. Pflaumer. "Ranks still as one of the most important of all bird books from the collector's point of view" (Fine Bird Books). First edition, large paper issue, bound as often found without the 35 extra plates of animals, insects, and reptiles designed to illustrate ornithological volumes of Buffon's monumental "Histoire naturelle generale" (1749-1804). Buffon was appointed keeper of the "Jardin du Roi", later the "Jardin des Plantes", and the collection connected with it, the "Cabinet du Roi" in 1739. He augmented the collection of birds exponentially, increasing it to more than 800 species gathered from all four corners of the globe. In 1765 at Buffon's direction, Martinet began drawing and painting the collection, and engraved the plates under the supervision of Edme Daubenton. In1770 the first volume devoted to birds was published: "Its popularity was primarily assured by Buffon's great literary ability which allowed him to present even the most difficult topics in such sparkling style, in such a universally understandable form, and so fascinating a manner that, as was said, even ladies found amusement in reading about them.the special merit of the work is principally due to the fact that. it was the first to create interest in Nature and natural history in wide circles" (Anker). Buffon's "Oiseaux." was ultimately issued in four formats: the large and ordinary paper folio sets were issued with hand-colored plates by and after Francois Martinet. Quarto and twelve-mo issues were also produced, illustrated with a series of black and white plates drawn by de Seve. Anker 76; "Fine Bird Books" 83; McGill/Wood 267; Nissen IVB 158; Zimmer 104-106. Catalogued by Kate Hunter.

Gouache and Watercolor on paper in gold leaf frame (16 ½ x 22 ½ inches visible; 21 x 27 inches framed). THE FIRST VIEW OF THE POTOMAC RIVER BY GEORGE WASHINGTON S FAVORITE ARTIST This watercolor gouache is clearly a companion in style and subject of The Potomac River Breaking through the Blue Ridge and Great Falls of the Potomac, both circa 1796-1797), combining as it does topographical detail with a Romantic atmosphere. Both of these works were purchased in January 1797 from Beck s agent, Samuel Salter. They were hung in the New Room at Mount Vernon, where they may still be viewed today. Lauded as one of the greatest predecessors of the Hudson River School and a favorite artist of President Washington, George Jacob Beck s artwork continues to be highly sought after today. Though listed in the 1806 Lexington directory as a "Portrait Painter," Beck is most famous for his landscape work, which unquestionably contributed to the popularity of American views during the late eighteenth and nineteenth century. He was the most experienced, if not the first of the early landscape painters to work in the United States. He is considered one of the earliest professional English trained landscape painters in America. Beck and his wife emigrated to America in 1795, drawn to the same newly settled wilderness, which Beck so successfully portrayed in his. The couple settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where Beck first painted his views of the Potomac River and achieved a tremendous amount of success. His fandom was ignited by the backing of George Washington, and following those commissions he won the patron-ship of William Hamilton, a well-known patron of English and American artists. From there Beck s popularity skyrocketed, accumulating commission after commission. In 1798, Beck moved to Philadelphia and opened a drawing school for men and women to subsidize his income; while his wife opened a ladies seminary. Despite leaving there legacy on the bustling city, their stay in Philadelphia was short lived and they soon made their way towards the beautiful American Western Frontier (Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls, Ohio, Kentucky). "The newly settled wilderness held a great appeal for beck providing the opportunity of exploring relatively unspoiled nature while living in a social milieu where he and his wife could attract patrons and students. In Kentucky he developed a freer style, and his works increasingly celebrated the unspoiled richness of the frontier. They reveal his fascination with the subjective power and mystery of nature". (Olsen) For more information on this map, or a warm welcome to see other maps and books of our collection at 72nd Street NYC, please contact Natalie Zadrozna.

No Binding. Etat : Near Fine. JEAN BAPTISTE HUET (1745-1811), ATTRIBUTED TO A Superb Album of Original Botanical Watercolors, 1787. Folio (12 2/8 x 10 4/8 inches). 117 delicately rendered original watercolors of rural and agricultural subjects (image size: 8 x 6 inches) tipped-in to heavier stock and mounted on guards. 19th-century French half red morocco gilt, marbled boards. Provenance: bookplate of B.L. on the front free endpaper. These exquisitely detailed and skillfully drawn studies of wild and cultivated rural plants include studies of 26 variety of pea; 7 plants from the potato family including two drawn with tubers; 10 varieties of millet and wild grasses and corn; 24 different wildflowers including sunflowers, poppies, may flowers, clovers, cowslips and hops; more than 40 different varieties of wheat; and several of oats. Many are dated 1787 and are numbered in the top left-hand corner indicating that these watercolors come from a more extensive sketchbook series, similar to others attributed to Huet. Born in Paris in 1745, Jean-Baptiste Huet II was from a large family of accomplished artists: his great-uncle Christophe Huet specialized in animal pictures and is best known for his decorative schemes in the manner of Watteau. His grand-father Nicolas Huet (1718- ca1788), was a pupil of Jean-Baptiste Oudry and specialized in paintings of flowers and fruit. Father Jean-Baptiste (Marie) Huet I was an animal painter of some distinction, and his two brothers Nicolas Huet II (1770-ca 1827) and Francois Huet (1772-1813) were, like himself, painters and engravers. Jean-Baptiste II studied under the eminent artists Charles Dagomer, Jean Baptiste Leprince (1734-1781), and Franois Boucher (1703-1770). He became an associate of the Académie in 1768 and a full member a year later. Huet excelled as a natural history painter, specializing in animals and exotic birds. He became renowned for his fresh and naive naturalistic style in contrast to the stylized composition that typified Boucher and his circle. He spent much of his time observing his subjects from nature at a summer residence in Villiers-sur-Orge. This album of watercolors shares similarities with Huet s A Study of two Gourds (1785), in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Other works by Huet on similar sized paper, with black-lined mounts and numbering, are known, and they likely formed a series of sketchbooks. Loca: 6.3BC.20C.

Servetus - the expurgated edition - with contemporary hand-colour Folio. Large woodcut printer's device on title-page; double-page woodcut old map of the world, 26 old regional maps, 2 modern maps of the world, 20 new regional maps and one full-page, most with text enclosed in elaborate woodcut borders, probably by Hans Holbein and Urs Graf, text with 2 full-page woodcuts of a diagram and armillary sphere showing the projection of the winds by Albrecht Dürer (l4 verso), all with magnificent contemporary hand-colour in full, 4 large woodcut diagrams, woodcut initials, colophon n4 present, seventeenth-century limp vellum, recased. Collation: a-i(6), k-m(6), n(4), 50 maps, A-G(6), 2[-]; pp., [1]-149, [3], 50 maps, [76]. Beautifully coloured in a contemporary hand throughout, and very rare as such, this is the second edition of Ptolemy's 'Geographia' to be edited by Michael Villanovanus, better known as Servetus, (c1490-1570). It was printed by Gaspar Trechsel for Hugues de la Porte (1500-1572) in Lyon, a well-known protestant publisher and bookseller, and a prominent member of the Grande Compagnie des Libraries de Lyon (founded in 1519), many of whose works were on the list of condemned books, some of which were destroyed on the banks of the Saone by order of the Archbishop in 1568 (Davis). Nevertheless, the most inflammatory remarks from the earlier editions of the text have been removed. While working as an editor for the publishers Melchior (c1490-1570) and Gaspar Trechsel, Servetus, who was born at Villanueva, in Aragon, Spain, wrote the preface and many of the descriptions for the versos of these maps, for an edition which was first published in 1535. He unwittingly translated verbatim the text accompanying map 41, 'Tab. Ter. Sanctae', of the Holy Land, from the 1522 and 1525 editions, in which it states that Palestine "was not such a fertile land as was generally believed, since modern travellers reported it barren". Excising the offensive text for this new edition did not save Servetus, when he was burnt at the stake in 1553, this heresy was charged to him, along with 39 other counts, which included the sins of writing against the Holy Trinity and infant baptism. As a result, many copies of the book were burned with him on the orders of John Calvin. The maps, which are very rarely found with such fine contemporary colour, as here, include 27 depicting the ancient world, 22 of the modern world, and one of Lotharingia. They are printed from the same woodblocks that were created by Laurent Fries for the 1522 edition of Ptolemy's 'Geographia', after the original 1513 maps of Martin Waldseemuller (1470-1520). Fries was originally a physician, "at a succession of places in the Alsace region, with a short spell in Switzerland, before settling in Strasbourg, in about 1519. By this time, he had established a reputation as a writer on medical topics, with several publications already to his credit. Indeed, it was thus that Fries met the Strasbourg printer and publisher Johann Grüninger, an associate of the St. Die group of scholars formed by, among others, Walter Lud, Martin Ringmann and Martin Waldseemuller. It would seem that Gruninger was responsible for printing several of the maps prepared by Waldseemuller, and for supervising the cutting of the maps for the 1513 edition of Ptolemy, edited by the group. Three of the maps relate to the Americas: 'Terra Nova', the first map in an atlas dedicated to America; 'Tabula noua totius orbis', to which he added images of Russian, Egyptian, Etheopian, Trapobanan and Mursulian kings, and an elephant off the coast of Greenland; and 'Orbis typus universalis', the 'Admiral's map', and the first map in an atlas to name America'. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) created his image of the armillary sphere for the Gruninger edition of Ptolemy's Geography, 1525. His simple and elegant rendition of the inhabited parts of the globe, within the floating spherical astrolabe, is less a scientific instrument and more a framework for the schematized world; belying the complex nature of Ptolemy's text. Alden & Landis 541/9; Burden 4; Davis 'On the Protestantism of Benoit Rigaud', 1955, page 246; Phillips Atlases 366; Sabin 66485; Shirley 47-49.

First edition. Folding lithographed table. 8vo. A very good copy in publisher's green cloth, headcap sensitively repaired, front free endpaper renewed, first quire a little ragged from opening, ownership inscriptions to half-title, some ms. marginalia to read free endpaper. Housed in a custom quarter morocco clamshell box. x, 490, [491-502 index], 32ads.pp. London, John Murray, John Murray originally printed 1250 copies of the book which ?caused a greater upheaval in man's thinking than any other scientific advance since the rebirth of science in the Renaissance? (Ernst Mayr). It is also considered ?the most influential scientific work of the 19th century? (Horblit) and ?certainly the most important biological book ever written? (Freeman). Despite its 490 pages, it was intended only as an ?abstract? of a far larger work. Yet for years Darwin had showed a marked reluctance to print anything on the subject of evolution. Although he developed his theory on the origin of the species in 1838, he communicated it to no one. In 1842 he drew up a rough sketch of the argument, expanding this into an essay only to be published in the event of his death. Once he had prepared the third part of the Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle for publication, he shelved the species question ?and started on eight tedious years' study? of living and fossil barnacles. His painstaking work on their structure and classification enabled him to acquire first-hand knowledge of the amount of variation to be found in nature. In April 1856 he described his theory of natural selection to Charles Lyell, and that summer began work on the book that Lyell urged him to write. On 18 June 1858 he received the shock letter from Alfred Russell Wallace which appeared to be ?a perfect summary of the views which he had worked out during the preceding twenty years? (DSB III, p.573). In a compromise that was fair to both, Darwin presented his own and Wallace's papers before the Linnean Society of London on 1 July 1858, and they were published together on 20 August of that year. Unable to squander any more time over the writing of his ?big book,? Darwin then set about writing the ?abstract? which we know as the Origin with the encouragement of Joseph Hooker. Its impact can hardly be overstated. Ernst Mayr writes in his introduction to the 1964 facsimile edition: ?The publication of the Origin of Species ushered in a new era in our thinking about the nature of man. The intellectual revolution it caused and the impact it had on man's concept of himself and the world were greater than those caused by the works of Copernicus, Newton, and the great physicists of more recent times . Every modern discussion of man's future, the population explosion, the struggle for existence, the purpose of man and the universe, and man's place in nature rests on Darwin.? A very good copy of this landmark work with the ads dated June, 1859. It was previously owned by the scientist Lancelot Albert Forscey, and John Rizzo Naudi. Dibner, Heralds, 199; Eimas Heirs, 1724; Freeman 373; Garrison-Morton, 220; Grolier Science, 32b; Horblit 23b; Norman, 593; PMM, 344; Sparrow Milestones, 49; Waller, 10786.

Folio (18 x 13 inches). 172 fine hand-colored engraved plates by J.M. Seligman, J.M. Stock and A.L. Wirsing after G.D. Ehret, G.W. Baurenfeind, B.R. and M.B. Dietschin, N.F. Eisenberger, J.C. Keller and others (plates 60 and 61, and 121 and 122 counted as one plate each, bound without plates 90, 126, 131, 135, 179 and 180, first two plates with slight vertical crease, plate 97 with small tear at fold not affecting the image). Bound without text. Contemporary mottled calf (joints cracked, extremities scuffed). "ONE OF FINEST RECORDS OF THE CULTIVATED FLOWERS OF THE PERIOD" (Dunthorne). First edition, bound, as often found, without text, which was not published simultaneously with the plates. Described by Blunt as "one of the most decorative florilegia of the mid-eighteenth century" with more than forty of the plates based on drawings by Trew's famous protégé Georg Ehret with whom he had collaborated on "Plantae Selectae". The spectacular plates are "full sized colored figures of Hyacinths, Tulips (over 20 plates), Ranunculi, Anemones, Caryophylli, Lilies, Auriculas, Roses, Narcissi, Iris, Cheiranthi, Asters, Fritilleries, Crown Imperials" (Dunthorne), and are some of the most sought after and important botanical prints in the world. It is no wonder that he became one of the foremost illustrators of botanical images of his time, at a time when it can be said that art of this nature was highly prized and passionately collected. Like his father before him Ehret trained as a gardener, initially working on estates of German nobility, and painting flowers only occasionally, another skill taught him by his father, who was a good draughtsman. Ehret s "first major sale of flower paintings came through Dr Christoph Joseph Trew, eminent physician and botanist of Nuremberg, who recognized his exceptional talent and became both patron and lifelong friend. Ehret sent him large batches of watercolours on the fine-quality paper Trew provided. In 1733 Trew taught Ehret the botanical importance of floral sexual organs and advised that he should show them in detail in his paintings. Many Ehret watercolours were engraved in Trew's works, such as Hortus Nitidissimus [as here] (1750 86) and Plantae selecta e (1750 73), in part two of which (1751) Trew named the genus Ehretia after him. "During 1734 Ehret travelled in Switzerland and France, working as a gardener and selling his paintings. While at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, he learned to use body-colour on vellum, thereafter his preferred medium. In 1735 he travelled to England with letters of introduction to patrons including Sir Hans Sloane and Philip Miller, curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden. In the spring of 1736 Ehret spent three months in the Netherlands. At the garden of rare plants of George Clifford, banker and director of the Dutch East India Company, he met the great Swedish naturalist, Carl Linnaeus, who was then formulating his new classification based on plant sexual organs. Ehret painted a Tabella (1736), illustrating the system, and sold engravings of it to botanists in Holland. Some of his paintings of the exotics were engraved in Linnaeus's "Hortus Cliffortianus" (1737). "[Ehret] signed and dated his work, naming the subject in pre-Linnaean terms. He published a florilegium, "Plantae et papiliones rariores" (1748 62), with eighteen hand-coloured plates, drawn and engraved by himself. Ehret also provided plant illustrations for several travel books. His distinctive style greatly influenced his successors" (Enid Slatter for DNB). The number of plates bibliographers have associated with this work differs considerably: Brunet V:943 (calls for 190 plates); Dunthorne 310 (180 plates, actually 178); Great Flower Books p. 78 (180 plates, plates 60/61 and 121/122 are represented by one plate each); Johnston "Cleveland Collections" 493 (190 plates); Nissen BBI 1995 (180 plates, 60/61 and 121/122 each on one plate, referance to Tjaden with 190 plates); Pritzel 9500 (180 pl.

First edition of Adam Smith's magnum opus and cornerstone of economic thought. Quarto, 2 volumes, bound in full brown calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, front and rear panels, red morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers. In near fine condition. Remarkably clean throughout with some light toning. Housed in a custom half morocco calf clamshell box, elaborately gilt decorated spines. An exceptional example of this landmark work. "First published in 1776, Adam Smith's masterpiece The Wealth of Nations, is the foundation of modern economic thought and remains the single most important account of the rise of, and the principles behind, modern capitalism. It took Smith ten years to produce An Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations. His commentary during such an incremental time, the first years of the Industrial Revolution, sought to reform outdated theories of mercantilist and physiocratic economic thought with broader concepts that we are all familiar with today, such as the division of labor, productivity, and free markets. An important theme that persists throughout the work is the idea that the economic system is automatic, and, when left with substantial freedom, able to regulate itself. This is often referred to as the â invisible hand.â The ability to self-regulate and to ensure maximum efficiency, however, is limited by a number of external forces and â privilegesâ extended to certain members of the economy at the expense of others. The 1776 publication of An Inquiry into The Wealth of Nations was the first of only five editions that were published in Adam Smithâ s lifetime and greatly influenced a number of economists and philosophers of his time and those that followed, including Jean-Baptiste Say, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Malthus, and Ludwig von Mises. "The history of economic theory up to the end of the nineteenth century consists of two parts: the mercantilist phase which was based not so much on a doctrine as on a system of practice which grew out of social conditions; and the second phase which saw the development of the theory that the individual had the right to be unimpeded in the exercise of economic activity. While it cannot be said that Smith invented the latter theory.his work is the first major expression of it. He begins with the thought that labour is the source from which a nation derives what is necessary to it. The improvement of the division of labour is the measure of productivity and in it lies the human propensity to barter and exchange.Labour represents the three essential elements-wages, profit and rent-and these three also constitute income. From the working of the economy, Smith passes to its matter -'stock'- which encompasses all that man owns either for his own consumption or for the return which it brings him. The Wealth of Nations ends with a history of economic development, a definitive onslaught on the mercantile system, and some prophetic speculations on the limits of economic control.The Wealth of Nations is not a system, but as a provisional analysis it is complete convincing. The certainty of its criticism and its grasp of human nature have made it the first and greatest classic of modern economic thought" (PMM).

Soft cover. Etat : Very Good. Broadsheets (22 2/8 x 17 4/8 inches). Engraved title-page "The Temple of Flora, or Garden of Nature.", dedication and contents leaves. 4 FINE stipple-engraved colour printed plates finished by hand including a portrait of Linnaeus, "Flora Dispensing her Favours on Earth", "Aesculapius, Flora, Ceres and Cupid .", and "Cupid Inspiring the Plants with Love", and 28 EXCEPTIONALLY FINE mezzotint and/or aquatint engraved plates printed in colors and/or colored by hand, comprising: "The Snowdrop" [Dunthorne state I]; "The Persian Cyclamen" [I]; "Hyacinths" [I]; "Roses" [I]; "A Group of Carnations" [II]; "A Group of Auriculas" [two only, I]; "A Group of Auriculas" [four, I]; "Tulips" [EARLY PROOF WITH NO CAPTION]; "The Queen"; "The Aloe" [I]; "The Nodding Renealmia" [I]; "The Night Blowing Cereus" [BI]; "The Oblique-Leaved Begonia" [I]; "Large Flowering Sensitive Plant" [I]; "The Blue Passion Flower" [I]; "The Winged Passion Flower" [I]; "The Quadrangular Passion Flower" [I]; "The White Lily" [I]; 'The Superb Lily" [B, II]; "The Dragon Arum" [I]; "The Maggot-Bearing Stapelia" [I]; "The Pitcher-Plant"; "The Pontic Rhododendron"; "The American Cowslip" [II]; "The Narrow Leaved Kalmia"; "The China Limodoron"; "The Indian Reed" [I]; "The Sacred Egyptian Bean"; and the "The Blue Egyptian Water Lily" (some minor marginal spotting). Contemporary half tan calf, marbled paper boards, gilt (rebacked to style). Provenance: With a near contemporary gift inscription to "Louisa Cath. B. Church presented to her by her affectionate father J.M.G. Church 21st March 1825. and from the above to Caroline Church June 15th 1872"; with the late 19th-century bookplate of Edmund Giles Loder, 2nd Bart., (1849-1920). FINE, EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF THORNTON'S CELEBRATED FLOWER PLATES FROM HIS "TEMPLE OF FLORA": 'THE MOST STRIKINGLY BEAUTIFUL SET OF FLOWER PLATES EVER TO BE PRINTED IN ENGLAND' (Alan Thomas, Great Books and Book Collectors, page 144). Including an exceptionally rare and early proof plate of "The Tulips", and two of the rarest plates: 'A Group of [Four] Auriculas' and 'Pitcher Plant'; the majority of the plates are in their earliest or only issue. Only one of the justly celebrated plates of flowers ("The Roses") was by Thornton, the others are after paintings by Abraham Pether, Philip Reinagle, Sydenham Edwards, Peter Henderson and others, although he selected the subjects of the plates, their symbolism and dramatic landscapes. A doctor by training, a substantial inheritance allowed Thornton to achieve his dream of "an immense work in many volumes which in scope, illustration, paper and typography would surpass anything in any other European country" (Grigson). However the enterprise brought about his financial ruin and in spite of several lotteries designed to raise funds Thornton was forced to return to medical practice in order to support himself. "At the heart of the 'New Illustration' was Thornton's scheme to produce a specifically British botanical publication of a magnificence to surpass all previous examples. Teams of master engravers and colourists, including Francesco Bartolozzi, Richard Earlom, and John Landseer, used the full range of modern printing techniques to produce coloured illustrations after paintings by such prominent artists as Sir William Beechey, James Opie, Henry Raeburn, John Russell, Abraham Pether, and his two favoured illustrators, Peter Henderson and Philip Reinagle. The illustrations were not restricted to the 'choicest flowers' in the world, but included portraits of eminent botanists-including the famous portrait of Linnaeus in Lapp (Sami) dress-elaborate allegories, such as 'Cupid Inspiring the Plants to Love', and a bust of Linnaeus being honoured by Aesculapius, Flora, Ceres, and Cupid. The text, which includes a translation of Linnaeus's 'Prize dissertation' on the sexuality of plants (1759), is similarly not bound to accounts and texts of scientific botany, but deals with a wide range of religious, political, spiri.