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147 woodcut diagrams in the text. 6 p.l., 196 leaves. Small folio (272 x 190 mm.), cont. Parisian binding of light brown calf (very skillful restorations to the binding), panelled in blind with gilt fleurons in the corners, gilt floral tool in the center of each cover of a hand holding flowers, small gilt stars in the six compartments of spine. Nuremberg: J. Petreius, 1543. First edition, and a very fine and crisp copy, of "the earliest of the three books of science that most clarified the relationship of man and his universe (along with Newton's Principia and Darwin's Origin of Species)."-Dibner, Heralds of Science, 3. This work is the foundation of the heliocentric theory of the planetary system and the most important scientific text of the 16th century. This is the seventh or eighth copy I have handled over the past 39 years. How does it compare to the others? Quite nicely. First of all, this is one of the largest copies extant; simply, this copy is really big. Also, I have had only one other copy in a 16th-century binding (Census I.245). Our binding, while carefully and skillfully repaired, is a very beautiful contemporary Parisian example; the tool of a hand holding flowers in the center of each cover is very similar to the one used on many of Marcus Fugger's plain calf bindings. It is a lovely tool in general use by the Paris binders of the period 1550-1560. The endpapers have been renewed but they are not offensive. There is a small early erasure of an ownership inscription on the title just slightly touching the "D." in the date. The first six leaves have some light dampstaining but it is pale. Provenance: At the foot of the title-page, another early signature has been thoroughly lined through. 17th- or 18th-century ownership inscription on title: "Collegii Parisiensis Societat jesu." -Bookplate of Gustavus Wynne Cook (1867-1940, amateur astronomer, collector, and benefactor of the Franklin Institute). -Franklin Institute Library bookplate. -Sold Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, 2 November 1977, lot 85, to the British Railway Pension Fund (a famously selective buyer). -Purchased by Pierre Berès at Sotheby's London, 21 October 1980 and sold to a prominent Spanish private collector. A very large, fresh, and crisp copy (the leaves "crackle"). Preserved in a morocco-backed box. Collation as in Horblit; some copies - about 20 per cent according to Prof. Gingerich - contain an errata leaf printed separately and later. â § Evans, Epochal Achievements in the History of Science, 15. Gingerich, An Annotated Census of Copernicus' De Revolutionibus, Madrid 7. Gingerich, Rara Astronomica, 16. Horblit 18b. Printing & the Mind of Man 70-"a landmark in human thought. It challenged the authority of antiquity and set the course for the modern world by its effective destruction of the anthropocentric view of the universe." Sparrow, Milestones of Science, 40. Zinner 1819 & p. 42.

Hardcover. Etat : Fine. Bound in attractive, contemporary Parisian calf with some discreet repairs. The boards are blind-ruled and adorned with gold-tooled ornaments. This is one of very few to have appeared on the market in a contemporary binding. The text is in excellent condition, with just minor blemishes (small early erasure of an ownership inscription on the title just slightly touching the "D." in the date. Light damp-staining to first six leaves.) Collation as in Horblit; this copy without the errata leaf -printed separately and later- that is found in a minority of copies (about 20 percent). Preserved in a morocco-backed box. Provenance: At the foot of the title-page, an early signature has been thoroughly lined through. 17th- or 18th-century inscription on title of the Jesuit College of Paris. Bookplate of Gustavus Wynne Cook (1867-1940, amateur astronomer, collector, and benefactor of the Franklin Institute). Franklin Institute bookplate. Soldat Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, November 1977, lot 85. Purchased by Pierre Berès at Sotheby's London, 21 October 1980 and sold to a prominent Spanish private collector. "The earliest of the three books of science that most clarified the relationship of man and his universe (along with Newton's Principia and Darwin's Origin of Species)."-Dibner, Heralds of Science, 3. This work is the foundation of the heliocentric theory of the planetary system and the most important scientific text of the 16th century. Copernicus began to work on astronomy on his own. Sometime between 1510 and 1514 he wrote an essay that has come to be known as the Commentariolus that introduced his new cosmological idea, the heliocentric system, and he sent copies to various astronomers. He continued making astronomical observations whenever he could, hampered by the poor position for observations in Frombork and his many pressing responsibilities as canon. Nevertheless, he kept working on his manuscript of On the Revolutions. In 1539 a young mathematician named Georg Joachim Rheticus (1514-1574) from the University of Wittenberg came to study with Copernicus. Rheticus brought Copernicus books in mathematics, in part to show Copernicus the quality of printing that was available in the German-speaking cities. He published an introduction to Copernicus's ideas, the Narratio prima (First Report). Most importantly, he convinced Copernicus to publish On the Revolutions. Rheticus oversaw most of the printing of the book, and on 24 May 1543 Copernicus held a copy of the finished work on his deathbed. It is impossible to date when Copernicus first began to espouse the heliocentric theory. Had he done so during his lecture in Rome, such a radical theory would have occasioned comment, but there was none, so it is likely that he adopted this theory after 1500. His first heliocentric writing was his Commentariolus. It was a small manuscript that was circulated but never printed. We do not know when he wrote this, but a professor in Cracow cataloged his books in 1514 and made reference to a "manuscript of six leaves expounding the theory of an author who asserts that the earth moves while the sun stands still" (Rosen, 1971, 343). Thus, Copernicus probably adopted the heliocentric theory sometime between 1508 and 1514. Rosen (1971, 345) suggested that Copernicus's "interest in determining planetary positions in 1512-1514 may reasonably be linked with his decisions to leave his uncle's episcopal palace in 1510 and to build his own outdoor observatory in 1513." In other words, it was the result of a period of intense concentration on cosmology that was facilitated by his leaving his uncle and the attendant focus on church politics and medicine. In the Commentariolus Copernicus listed assumptions that he believed solved the problems of ancient astronomy. He stated that the earth is only the center of gravity and center of the moon's orbit; that all the spheres encircle the sun, which is close to the center of the universe; that the universe is much larger than previously assumed, and the earth's distance to the sun is a small fraction of the size of the universe; that the apparent motion of the heavens and the sun is created by the motion of the earth; and that the apparent retrograde motion of the planets is created by the earth's motion. Although the Copernican model maintained epicycles moving along the deferent, which explained retrograde motion in the Ptolemaic model, Copernicus correctly explained that the retrograde motion of the planets was only apparent not real, and its appearance was due to the fact that the observers were not at rest in the center. The work dealt very briefly with the order of the planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, the only planets that could be observed with the naked eye), the triple motion of the earth (the daily rotation, the annual revolution of its center, and the annual revolution of its inclination) that causes the sun to seem to be in motion, the motions of the equinoxes, the revolution of the moon around the earth, and the revolution of the five planets around the sun. The Commentariolus was only intended as an introduction to Copernicus's ideas, and he wrote "the mathematical demonstrations intended for my larger work should be omitted for brevity's sake.". In a sense it was an announcement of the greater work that Copernicus had begun. The Commentariolus was never published during Copernicus's lifetime, but he sent manuscript copies to various astronomers and philosophers. He received some discouragement because the heliocentric system seemed to disagree with the Bible, but mostly he was encouraged. Although Copernicus's involvement with official attempts to reform the calendar was limited to a no longer extant letter, that endeavor made a new, serious astronomical theory welcome. Fear of the reaction of ecclesiastical authorities was probably the least of the reasons why he delayed publishing his book. The most important reasons for the delay.

Hardcover. Etat : Near fine. First. THE FIRST MODERN ATLAS -- "THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL PTOLEMY EDITIONS" -- THE BOURNE-ROSENBACH-STREETER-WARDINGTON COPY. First edition. Strasbourg: Johann Schott, 1513. Folio ( 17 1/2" x 12 1/2", 444mm x 317mm). With 47 woodcut maps by Martin Waldseemüller, 45 double-page, 2 single (the final map printed in three colors). Bound in contemporary paneled dark calf (rebacked) over wooden boards with red silk ties. On the boards, two broad borders of emblems blind. In the central panel, fleurons with two sets of initials: "T. C." and "T. A." On the spine, seven raised bands with blind fleurons in the panels. Presented in a felt-lined clam-shell box by Brockman. Rebacked. Conserved by James and Stuart Brockman (full report available on request). Ties perished. Lacking the final blank. Small dampstain to the lower fore-corner, with some additions and repairs. Ownership signature on the title-page: "Su[m] Jo(hannis) Bourne". With scattered early ink marginalia to the text and to the plates. Bookplate of Thomas Winthrop Streeter (his sale, Parke-Bernet 25 Octover 1966, lot 6) to the front-paste down, between a lot description of the volume and the armorial bookplate of York Minster. Gilt bookplate of Lord Wardington (his sale, Sotheby's London 10 October 2006, lot 399) to the rear paste-down. Claudius Ptolemaeus was a second-century philosopher living in Roman Alexandria in Egypt. In the Greek tradition, philosophy -- the love of wisdom -- bridged what we now divide into the humanities and the sciences; he was a mathematician, natural scientist and geographer-astronomer. No manuscripts of the Geographike Hyphegesis (Geographical Guidance) survive from before the XIIIc, but some examples survive with maps that bear some relation to those Ptolemy himself drew. Various translations circulated, but Ringmann's is generally regarded as superior to his predecessors'. In the XVc, the Geographia was the core of ancient knowledge of the world. It was crucial to explorers; Columbus expected to find the East Indies because of Ptolemy's calculations and assertions about longitude. With funding from René II, Duke of Lorraine (whence the polychromy of the map of Lorraine), Walter Lud, canon in St-Dié-des-Vosges, gathered a group of humanists to knit together the new knowledge coming from Christopher Columbus and other early explorers with a new translation (Ringmann) and new maps (Waldseemüller). Together they revolutionized cartography, and were likely responsible with the coinage of America and a description of the New World. The provenance of the present copy befits the importance of the work. Sir John Bourne (ca. 1518-1575) was, until the accession of Queen Mary (1553), a rather minor parliamentary figure. Probably due to his support of Mary's claim in the succession crisis, he was knighted, given a manor and elevated to a principal secretaryship on the Privy Council. Having grown quite rich -- he was a founder of the Russia (or Muscovy) Company, perhaps the source of his geographic curiosity -- Bourne was a significant book-collector, and more than a dozen of his volumes (in Greek, Latin and Hebrew) are to be found in institutional libraries. Eight of Bourne's books remain in the collection of York Minster, most having been acquired by Toby Matthew, Archbishop of York. Doubtless our volume entered the library of the cathedral in the same way. Long afterwards, the book was bought privately by that greatest of all booksellers, A.S.W. Rosenbach, who sold it to Thomas W. Streeter, whose sale of Americana was epochal. Charles W. Traylen -- himself a force among booksellers for some eight decades -- bought the volume at that sale on behalf of Christopher Henry Beaumont Pease, Lord Wardington, in whose collection it remained until his death. His landmark sale of important atlases and geographies in 2006 included some 20 copies of Ptolemy's Geography. Fairfax Murray German 348 and 348A; Harrisse 74; Phillips 359; Sabin 66478; Shirley 34; Streeter I:6.

Wandesburg (i.e. Wandsbeck, for the author by Philip Ohrs), 1598. Small folio. In the original blue silk binding with richly gilt ornamentation to boards. Professionally recased in the 1970'es with 90% of the original silk boards preserved over new blue silk. Green silk ties. A small, neat restoration to the border of the title-page, barely noticeable. A4 and H2 restored and at margins with newer paper margins in perceftly matching paper. The restoration touches the outer borders, most significantly on H2, where the inner border is almost covered by the new paper. The lower blank border of A4 cropped. Otherwise in splendid condition. 42 ff. With 22 magnificent full-page illustrations, of which 4 are engraved and the rest are woodcut. Title printed in red and black and all pages, including the title-page, printed within woodcut ornamental border. Large woodcut device to title-page, with spere and compass, and allegorical woodcut to colophon. Title-page (which is printed in red and black) is uncoloured, but all other leaves are in magnificent contemporary handcolouring, and many of the illutstrations are illuminated in gold. All woodcut borders couloured in green and greeninsh blue, and large initials, head-and tail-pieces and devise on colophon are coloured in various colours, as are all illustrations.The word "INGENIOSE" of the imperfectly printed headline on G3 supplied on manuscript (as in most known copies), presumably in Brahe's own hand. Exceedingly scarce first edition, hand-coloured gift-copy in the original gift-binding with a remarkable provenance, of Tycho Brahe?s monumental work, in which he depicts and describes his groundbreaking astronomical instruments as well as his observatory on Hven, gives an account of his contributions to astronomy, and showcases the beginning new astronomy and the invention of modern empirical science.One of presumably 60 copies printed, all produced for private distribution only, as the entire print run of the first printing were meant as presentation-copies, and one of ab. 40 copies known. Almost all surviving copies are ininstitutions. Lauritz Nielsen traced 42 copies, four of which were destroyed by war, and Norlind added a further five copies, plus ab. 9 copies mentioned in contemporary correspondence to have been sent by Brahe toluminaries of the period.This magnum opus of astronomy describes and depicts the astronomical inventions of Tycho Brahe, especially the instruments, through which the stars and planets could be observed and by which distances and ascensionscould be measured. Brahe had invented three types of instruments of monumental importance to the beginning of modern empirical science and crucial to the new astronomy that he invented. He describes three types of these instruments: 1.quadrants and sextants used for determining altitudes and azimuths" 2. armillary instruments for measuring right ascensions and declinations, or longitudes and latitudes with respect to the ecliptic and 3. instrumentsdesigned for the determination of angular distances between celestial bodies (sextants and the bipartite arc). ?The instruments of Tycho Brahe represent a major achievement in astronomical science, because they provided much more accurate readings than previously possible, and on the basis of Tycho Brahe's observations Keplerdetermined the laws of planetary motions and from these laws Newton discovered the law of gravity. Not until the invention of the telescope some years after Tycho Brahe's death was it possible to get more accuratereadings.? (From the Brahe exhibition at the Royal Library of Denmark).?Tycho Brahe?s instruments were at the heart of his contribution to the invention of modern empirical science.? (J.R. Christianson: Tycho Brahe?s Instruments).The instruments were built by Tycho Brahe and his staff between the 1570's and the time he left Hven. All of his instruments are now lost, and the primary source we have to the fountain of knowledge that they represent is the present work containing his own illustrations and descriptions of them.After his death, the instruments were kept in a cellar, where they were destroyed during the uprisings in Prague in 1619. The great globe ended up at the Round Tower in Copenhagen, where it was destroyed in the fire of1728. The building, including the observatories, on Hven are also destroyed and only few remains are left. A replica of the garden of Uraniborg and the foundations for the instruments at Stjerneborg has been created innewer times.The present copy has a remarkable provenance, as it comes from Brahe?s childhood home, Tosterup Castle, where he lived since the age of one, with his uncle and aunt, who had ?adopted? him and were the only parentshe was to know. The book has been at Tosterup for almost four centuries and has only changed hands once before now. The copy bears no markings of ownership, but was presumably sent by Brahe from Wandsbeck to his family at Tosterup Castle in Denmark right after printing. It remained there until ab. 50 years ago, when it was giftedaway by the owners of Tosterup.Tycho Brahe?s birth parents, Beate Bille and Otto Brahe had been married for two years and already had a daughter, when they had Tycho. One year after his birth, in 1547, they had a second son. ?Now, Otto and Beatehad two healthy sons, and ?it happened by a particular decree of Fate? that Tycho was taken away ?without the knowledge of my parents? by ?my beloved paternal uncle Jørgen Brahe, who? brought me up, and thereafter hesupported me generously during my lifetime until my eighteenth year, and he always treated me as his own son? For his own marriage was childless.? Jørgen Brahe of Tosterup was married to ?the noble and wise MistressInger Oxe, a sister of the great Peder Oxe, who later became [Steward of the Realm] of the Danish royal court [and who] as long as she lived regarded me with exceptional love, as if I were her own son?.? (J.R.Christianson: Tycho Brahe and the Measure of the H.

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).

Three volumes. Elephant folio. (27 1/4 x 21 1/4 inches). First edition. Three lithograph title-pages, three leaves of letterpress contents. 150 hand-colored lithograph plates by John T. Bown of Philadelphia after John James Audubon and John Woodhouse Audubon, the backgrounds after Victor Audubon. Expertly bound to style in purple half morocco over period purple cloth boards, spine with raised bands lettered in the second and third compartments, the others decorated in gilt, marbled edges and endpapers. Within grey cloth clamshell cases with red morocco lettering-pieces in gilt. [With:] The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. New York: John James Audubon, 1846-1851-1854. 3 volumes, small 4to (10 x 7 inches). Half-titles, list of subscribers. 6 hand-colored lithograph plates. Expertly bound to style uniform to the above in purple half morocco over period purple cloth boards, marbled endpapers. A beautiful set of the first elephant folio edition of Audubon's "Quadrupeds," complete with the rare text volumes with six additional hand-colored plates. This is Audubon's final great natural history work. Unlike the double-elephant folio edition of The Birds of America, which was printed in London, the Quadrupeds was produced in the United States. It was the largest and most significant color-plate book produced in America in the nineteenth-century, and a fitting monument to Audubon's continuing genius. The work was originally published in thirty parts, each containing five plates, and priced at ten dollars per number. The first proofs were ready in 1842, but Audubon was fully employing the services of the lithographer Bowen on the octavo edition of The Birds of America, which was the greatest moneymaker of any of the Audubon family ventures. Instead, Audubon and his sons busied themselves in gathering subscribers, signing up over two hundred by the summer of 1844 (eventually the subscription list reached three hundred). The last part of the octavo Birds appeared in May 1844; publication of the folio Quadrupeds commenced immediately after with the first number being issued in January 1845 and the first volume completed within the year. Audubon's health began to fail dramatically, and responsibility for new artwork fell mainly on his son John Woodhouse Audubon, with some help from his brother Victor. The second volume was completed in March 1847. But as John Woodhouse traveled first to Texas, then to London and Europe, the pace slowed further. The final number was issued early in 1849. By this time the elder Audubon had succumbed to senility ("His mind is all in ruins," Bachman wrote sadly in June 1848). Audubon died in early 1851. In the end, about half of the plates for Quadrupeds were based on the works of John James and half on John Woodhouse. Audubon's collaborator on the text of the Quadrupeds was the naturalist and Lutheran clergyman, Bachman, who was a recognized authority on the subject in the United States. The two began their association when Audubon stayed with Bachman and his family in Charleston for a month in 1831. This friendship was later cemented by the marriage of Audubon's sons, Victor and John, to Bachman's daughters, Maria and Eliza. Audubon knew Bachman's contribution to the Quadrupeds would be crucial, especially because of concerns over his own technical knowledge. By 1840, Bachman had become indispensable to the Quadrupeds project, and as Audubon showed increasing signs of illness, found himself writing most of the text, with some help from Victor who was the project's primary business manager. The text appeared between December 1846 and the spring of 1854. Two issues of the third volume of the text are known, the present being the preferred second issue, with the supplementary text and the six octavo-sized plates issued in 1854, those six images not found in the folio. The elephant folio edition of Audubon's Quadrupeds will always be compared to Audubon's incomparable Birds. It should be judged in its own right, as one of the grandest American works of natural history ever produced, and one of the greatest American illustrated works ever created. Bennett, p.5. Ford, Audubon's Animals, passim. Peck, "Audubon and Bachman, a Collaboration in Science," pp.71-115, in Boehme's John James Audubon in the West. Nissen 162. Reese, Stamped with a National Character 36. Sabin 2367. Tyler, "The Publication of the Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America," pp.119-182 in Boehme. Wood, p.208.

Hardcover. Etat : Very Good. 1st Edition. THE GOLDEN SET, COLORED, WITH THE PUBLISHER'S WRAPPERS. Four volumes (two text, two plates). Coblenz: J. Hoelscher; 1839-41. Text-volumes: quarto (12 7/16" x 10 1/16", 316mm x 256mm). Vignettes: oblong folio (17" x 22 ¼", 431mm x 563mm). Tableaux: oblong folio (18 1/16" x 24 3/8", 459mm x 619mm). [Full collation available.] With 81 hand-colored aquatint-engraved plates, a lithographed chart and a lithographed map, hand-colored in outline. Bound in modern half black morocco gilt over blue paste-paper. On the text volumes' spine, author, title and number gilt within scrollwork. Top edges of the text-block gilt, fore and lower edges untrimmed. On the two plate volumes, author and title gilt to black morocco on the front boards. On the spines, 7 pairs of gilt fillets. [Full condition report available.] Very good, with scattered faults. Alexander Philipp Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied (1782-1867) was a protégé of Alexander von Humboldt, the all-encompassing man of Enlightenment science, who passed on to the young princeling his own passion for exploration. Indeed, Humboldt's travels through the Americas 1799-1804 sparked Prince Maximilian -- born the grandson of the ruling prince, and his father's fifth son; i.e., with no chance of ruling -- to do the same. Self-funded, Maximilian set off for Brazil 1815-1817, that trip being published from 1820 through 1850. Encouraged by his success, Maximilian made a second trip to America -- this through North America, getting as far west as Ft. McKenzie in Montana -- from 1832 to 1834, and now accompanied by the Swiss painter Karl Bodmer (1809-1893). The combination of the Humboldt-trained prince and the superbly sensitive artist Bodmer produced the best account of the American West, free from jingoism and agenda. Production of the work was lengthy, costly and complex (the Joslyn Art Museum's Karl Bodmer's North American Prints, edited by Brandon K. Ruud, is indispensable for its analysis). The question of coloration is vexatious to collectors, but Ruud corrects the "misinformation" that only the 46 subscribers' sets were fully colored; he estimates in fact that between 100 and 200 sets were colored in the XIXc either by Hölscher or the English (Ackermann) or French (Bertrand) publishers. Earlier cataloguers of the present item have called it "a later compiled set with resulting variance to margins, blind stamps and paper stock." The question of margins (generally about a centimeter along the long edge) is begged by the exceptional size of our set's plates; our set's Vignettes are some 5 ½" taller and wider than the Bobins set's. As with so many XIXc plate-books issued in parts, there was some natural variation in the size of the finished sheets; most were likely trimmed down to a uniform size, but the present set -- especially the large Vignettes -- seems not to have been. The variance in blind stamps is slight; 91% have the C. Bodmer control stamp, 5% have the earlier Ch. Bodmer stamp and only 3 (4%) are unstamped. I cannot detect variation in the paper stock (although some have tanned and others have not). Thanks to Ruud 2004, one can now make definitive study of the states of the plates (a spreadsheet is available). In the present set, 69 (85%) of the plates are in state 1, 11 are in state 2 (Tableaux 1, 18, 22, 42 and 46; Vignettes 1, 2, 4, 10, 12 and 18) and 1 in state 3 (Tableau 17). Crucially, none of the plates has the date, which is the hallmark of a later set. The set was purchased at the Sotheby's New York sale of John Golden (22 November 2022, lot 48), "Book Illustration in the Age of Scientific Discovery." Completely colored sets receive Howes's highest scarcity rating: dd ("superlatively rare books, almost unobtainable"). Abbey 615; Howes M 443a; Sabin 47014; Wagner-Camp 76:1. Ruud, Brandon K. (ed.). Karl Bodmer's North American Prints. Omaha, Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press for the Joslyn Art Museum, 2004.

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.

Hardcover. Etat : Very Good. Five volumes. Folio (20 7/8" x 14 1/8"). Decorative stenciled title-page "Atlas Universalis" in each volume, printed in red and black, and dated 1760, with mss index on verso, vignette title-page for "Grosser Atlas uber die gantze Welt," additional hand-coloured engraved allegorical title-page for "Atlas Novus", fine uncoloured engraved portrait of Homann by Winter, 129 double-page and one full-page town plans, and 320 double-page maps and plates, one double-page leaf with four vignette maps of the continents, by Homann, Lotter, and de Fer, all with original hand-color in full or in part, and with slightly later hand-colour in outline, the majority laid down in full or part at the time of publication, extra-illustrated with double-page world maps by Bellin, 1748 and Lotter, 1778, and four vignette maps of Gibraltar laid-down on the verso of the town plan (small repair to lower corner of map of France, map of Burgundy with small burn affecting the image). Contemporary full mottled calf, the spines gilt in 9 compartments, red morocco lettering-piece in one, gilt-lettered in two (some minor wear to corners, a bit rubbed). With the ink signature "Exchaquet" in an early hand at the head of the title-page in volume one, and the stenciled initials of "F.P.S." at the foot of each title-page. A composite atlas, with 130 town plans and 27 maps and plans of American cities (vol. V). The maps of America importantly include de Fer's map of California dated 1722, Lotter's map of the British colonies dated 1777, as well as his beautiful map of Philadelphia (a complete list is available upon request). The first volume begins with Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr's impressions of Homann's celestial charts as "Atlas Novus Coelestis", Nuremberg: Homann, 1742, with 36 fine engraved double-page maps and plates with original hand-colour in part. The volume continues with maps of Portugal, Spain, France, Great Britain and Belgium and includes magnificent town plans of Lisbon, Madrid, Gibraltar, Barcelona, Paris, Strasbourg, London, Amsterdam, the Hague, Rotterdam, Brussels, D'Anvers, Maastricht, and Luxembourg. Volumes II and III contains the German Empire, including Austria, Bavaria, the old provinces of Franconie and, Souabe, and the Rhine, Westphalia, Saxony, and Switzerland and includes amongst others the town plans of Vienna, Regensburg, Munich, Salzburg, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Stuttgart, Ulm, Frankfurt, Dresden, Leipzig, Hanover, and Hamburg. Volume IV has maps of Italy, Hungary, Bohemia, Silesia (11 double-pages of views), and Poland, and includes town plans of Turin, Milan, Mantua, Parma, Rome, Florence, Venice, Genoa, Naples, Belgrade, Prague, Danzig, Berlin, and Stettin. Volume V has maps of Scandinavia, Russia, Greece, Asia, Africa, and America, and includes town plans of Bratislava, Stockholm, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, Constantinople, and the cities of Batavia, Jerusalem, Bengal, Oran, Algiers, Porto Belo, Lotter's Plan of Philadelphia, maps of Halifax and Quebec. Homann is arguably the most important figure in German cartographical history. This atlas, is a testament to the creativity and cartographical skill that earned Homann such prestige within European map-making circles. Homann's prolific map and atlas production made an invaluable contribution to German regional cartography and had a profound impact on European map publishing in the eighteenth century. Founded in the year 1702, Homann's printing house became so successful that it was credited with the revival of the German printing industry, after what had been a long period of domination by the Dutch. Homann became a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1707, and shortly after publishing this edition of the atlas, Homann in 1715 was appointed Geographer to the Emperor. The set was owned by Charles-François Exchaquet, the Swiss cartographer and mapmaker, distinguished for his work in the Alps generally and Mont-Blanc in particular.

Octavo. Collation complete: I. Euricius Cordus - Botanologicon: Title with the woodcut device of Cologne-printer Johann Gymnicus, including his Motto, the first line of a Verse from the Aeneid by Virgil 'Discite Iustitiam Moniti', 183, [21] pp., 2 blank leaves. The titlepage of the Botanologicon bears the manuscript ownership-entry of Nuremberg's Astronomer, Philosopher and Mathematician Hieronymus Schreiber [also called Jerôme Schreiber], student-friend of Euricius Cordus' son Valerius Cordus in Wittenberg and later trustee of Valerius Cordus' scholarly estate after Valerius Cordus' premature death in Rome. Dated in the same hand on the titlepage also the entry 'Anno 1539', when Valerius Cordus matriculated at Wittenberg and Schreiber already had studied there since May 1532. With several contemporary manuscript annotations throughout both titles (the Botanologicon and Examen) / II. A. M. Brasavola - Examen omnium simplicium medicamentorum: Title, [1], ['Reverendissimo to Ioannes Argenterius', 4 pp.], ['Ad Illustris & Sereniss. ('Epistola Nuncupatoria') to the Duces of Ferrara' 17 pp.], [Epigramma, 1 p.], [Examen & Aristotelis Problemata 542 pages, [Dedication to Franciscus Frellaeus, 2 pp.], [Index copiosissimus in Examen Omnium, 13 pp.], [1]. With several manuscript annotations. Original, contemporary blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards with some stronger signs of running to the corners, with partially bevelled edges and both of the original metal clasps intact. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Title in ink to upper spine and also to top of fore-edge. Very few pressed plants loosely inserted. Interior in excellent condition with some minor staining to very few pages only. The Hieronymus Schreiber provenance is a stunning discovery. A more detailed in-depth-publication regarding this item is necessary and already in preparation, with a plethora of comparative sources; taken into account historical and recent publications. Hieronymus Schreiber is a cipher, yet still so much is already known about him that amazes. He is not only most famous for being the recipient of one of the first editions of Nicolaus Copernicus' - De Revolutionibus, fresh from the printing press by Johannes Petreius. But furthermore, a manuscript annotation in Schreiber's copy of Copernicus masterpiece was later discovered by Kepler to clarify the Preface of Copernicus' work had been hijacked by Andreas Osiander. Manuscript annotations throughout the Botanologicon reference the genus Cuscuta in Brasavola's Examen. This is an important discovery because it supports Hieronymus Schreiber's ownership / Schreiber suffered knowingly from chronic liver-problems and famously, prior to the fateful trip to Italy with Valerius Cordus, he went to Aachen to cure and seek relief from this very issue. Cuscuta was not only in TCM, but also generally, known during the Renaissance as remedy for liver-issues. Schreiber's time in Aachen is recorded in correspondence between Philip Melanchthon and Hieronymus Schreiber [see Corpus Reformatorum] and correspondence between Philip Melanchthon and Joachim Camerarius even proves Hieronymus Schreiber living with Melanchthon in Wittenberg, where a regular study-group would certainly have included Valerius Cordus [letter mentioned in Corpus Reformatorum - Volume V]. About the importance of especially this Sammelband of Euricius Cordus' Botanologicon and Antonio Musa Brasavola's Examen omnium simplicium medicamentorum': Some of the Annotations in the Examen reference the Botanologicon; especially on page 502 of the Examen in which Brasavola denies previous knowledge of the Botanologicon when writing his work. Edward Lee Greene (and Frank N. Egerton, ed.) already found page 502 of Brasavola's Examen important enough to illustrate the undeniable connection of 'Botanologicon' and 'Examen' by including a full translation from latin of the long passage of Brasavola's denial (see Volume II, p.696/697 of 'Landmarks of Botanical History'). Even though many modern scholarly criticism identifies and recognizes the Botanologicon of Euricius Cordus as the 'first attempt at the scientific systematization of plants' (D.S.B. III, pp. 412-13), and Lynn Thorndike devotes an entire chapter on Brasavola and his pharmaceutical writings, the most significant and informed hypothesis on the reciprocal influence between Euricius Cordus' Botanologicon and Brasavola's Examen is the lengthy essay of Edward Lee Greene's chapter on Pharmacology in his 'Landmarks of Botanical History' (Volume II, p.690-701). What makes Lee's essay so different, is his theory of the genesis of both works, his speculation on the possible plagiarization by Brasavola and the immediate absolution he grants Brasavola due to Brasavola being in danger of dying a heretic if he would have openly admitted and endorsed the work of Euricius Cordus, an open supporter of the Reformation. It is highly likely that Schreiber has received the work from his new friend Valerius Cordus. It is important to understand that medicinal plants (Simples / Medicamenta Simplicia) were the main interest in Valerius Cordus' studies (see p.292 of Ersch and Gruber's 1829 published 'Encyclopedia of Science and Art'). This would explain the two volumes being bound together since Brasavola's Examen is the first monumental publication on simples, and Valerius Cordus probably knew that his father Euricius Cordus and Antonio Musa Brasavola shared the same teacher in Ferrara, italian humanist and physician Niccolò Leoniceno. While (after we consulted a specialist in paleography), it is more likely that an undecipherable note on the titlepage of the 'Botanologicon' (below Schreiber's name) reads as an abbreviation of "at Wittenberg": 'a Wbrg anno 1539', it might as well read as 'a Valery' [from Valerius]. The manuscript notes identify annotations from someone connecting the dots between both works. But while it must not be doubted that this is Hieronymus.

Hardcover. Etat : Good. 13 volumes, fol.: 1): pp. [4], 893, [57], without final blank; 2): pp. [6], 862, [62], without final blank; 3): pp. [10], 560, [24]; 4): pp. [10], 767, [45]; 5): pp. [6], 593, [29]; 6): pp. [6], 732, [28], without final blank; 7): pp. [6], 495, [29]; 8): pp. [6], 1040, [12]; 9): pp. [4], 718, [16]; 10): FIRST EDITION: pp. [6], 427, [29]; 11): FIRST EDITION: pp. [8], 748, [28], 159, [9], without final blank; 12): FIRST EDITION: pp. [8], 979, [13]; 13): FIRST EDITION, second issue: pp. [12], 660, [52]. Predominantly Roman letter, little Italic and Greek; engraved architectural and allegorical titles by G. B. Coriolano, G. B. Cavazza, A. Salmicius and L. Tinti, all featuring the dedicatees coat of arms and, occasionally, oval portraits; numerous historiated or floriated initials and decorative or typographical head- and tail-pieces, over 2500 woodcut illustrations of animals, plants and gems in text, full- or double-pages; printers device on most final or penultimate leaves; occasionally light foxing, mostly in margins, a few leaves age yellowed; small marginal waterstains in places in vols 4, 6-8, 10 and 13, tiny wormholes at foot of first gathering in vol. 1, couple of ink spots, mainly on blanks, to title of vol. 5, first loosening gatherings in vol. 11, worn lower margin of last three leaves in vol. 13. Fine uniform set of good, well-margined copies in contemporary mottled calf, darker in vol. 13, consistently gilt with double-filled border, spine charmingly gilt with elaborate floriated decoration and title directly lettered on one or two of the seven compartments; a. e. sprinkled; minor old repairs to head and tail of most spines, light scratching and rubbing occasionally on covers, a few tiny wormholes on vol. 12, some corners and edges very slightly bumped; contemporary autograph of Le Vignon inscribed on all titles but in vol. 13, with variant Le Vignon m. Par. in vol. 11; bookcase number 97 in his hand consistently at foot of each front pastedowns, his price note Emputs 220 ff. at head of title in vol. 10. Exquisite complete set, bound in contemporary France, of the massive corpus of Aldrovandi s scientific works, the last four in the first edition, the remainders in the most accurate editions published in Bologna by Ferroni and Tebaldino in the mid-seventeenth century. Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605) is regarded as the father of modern natural history due to his pivotal contribution to zoology, botany and geology. An erudite scholar of wide-ranging interests, he was the first professor of natural science at Bologna university. There, he established a renowned botanical garden and gathered a steady amount of specimens and detailed drawings of faunal and floral rarities in his private museum. Everything was later bequeathed to the City Senate. The majority of his extensive scientific essays was published posthumously by his pupils with the support of the Bolognese Commune. This set embraces all his body of work, comprising: the three famous volumes on birds; the single tomes on insects, crustaceans & shellfish, fish & cetaceans; the ground-breaking investigation of quadrupeds spread over three volumes; the two fascinating works on reptiles (including dragons) and on any sort of monsters; the rare treatise on metals; the late survey on trees. Vol. 5 (De animalibus exanguibus) retains the initial dedication to the Bolognese senators; vol. 11 (Monstruorum Historia) has the Paralipomena, often missing; vol. 13 (Dendrologia) exceptionally bears the frontispiece with the crude printed title. All volumes are extensively illustrated, often providing the first depiction of a rare animal, plant or stone from Africa, Asia and Americas. Amongst the editors of the vast collection was the Scottish scholar Thomas Dampster (1579-1625), at the time professor of humanities at the University of Bologna. This extraordinary set was put together in the 1650s by a wealthy French collector who marked every volumes with the number 97.

Hardback. Etat : Good+. First Edition. 21 vols bound in 20 (9 volumes quarto text, 1 volume elephant folio text [bound with Antiquities vol I], 11 elephant folio plate volumes), the complete set of 894 plates of which 40 are wholly or partly printed in colours and or hand-coloured, and 2 printed in bistre, many double-page, and or, folding, plate DD in Etat Moderne II with fore-margin sometime renewed, scattered light foxing, contemporary calf gilt with marbled paper panels to covers (moiré cloth panels to natural history vols.), text volumes rebacked to style, spine gilt lettered and ruled, 1809-1830. ANTIQUITIES - 5 vols: (I) Engraved frontispiece, map, 99 plates numbered 1-97 (plates 79 and 87 each in two states) + 1 unnumbered plate; Bound with folio text; (II). 92 plates numbered 1-92; (III). 69 plates numbered 1-69 ; (IV). 72 plates numbered 1-72 + 2 plates lettered e & f ; (V). 89 plates numbered 1-89. ETAT MODERNE - 2 vols. (I). Engraved map, 83 plates numbered 1-83; (II). 22plates numbered 84-105 + 31 plates numbered I-XXXI + 11 plates lettered A-K + 9 plates lettered AA-II + 4 plates lettered KK-NN + 9 plates lettered a-i + 1 plate lettered k (JJ and j not used). HISTOIRE NATURELLE - 2 vols bound in 3: (I). 62 plates; (II). 105 plates; (II bis). 77 plates. Amongst the artists who contributed to this section are Barraband, Bessa, Redoute, and Turpin. CARTES GEORAPHIQUE ET TOPOGRAPHIQUE - engraved title & 52 engraved plates. Provenance: Bookplate of Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland (1792-1865). Volumes with either the Garter Crest or Ducal bookplate. Percy, the second son of Hugh, the second Duke, was a distinguished naval officer and a man of science and learning, who rose to the rank of Admiral, and was First Lord of the Admiralty in 1852. Percy became Duke of Northumberland in 1847, and a Knight of the Garter in 1852. FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE MOST AMBITIOUS SCIENTIFIC, HISTORICAL, ARTISTIC AND PUBLISHING PROJECTS - A COMPLETE SET WITH FINE ENGLISH PROVENANCE. THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE DESCRIPTION OF ANCIENTAND MODERN EGYPT, THE OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT OF THE SAVANTS WHO ACCOMPANIED NAPOLEON'S EXPEDITION TO EGYPT (1798-1801). THE WORK IS THE GREATEST OF A NUMBER OF OUTSTANDING SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS BY THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT DETAILING THE RESULTSOF EXPLORATION, UNEQUALLEDBY ANY OTHER NATION DURING THE SAME PERIOD. The only flaw in Napoleon s preparations for the invasion of Egypt was a miscalculation when it came to Turkey s reaction to France s unsolicited help in dealing with its mostly unruly vassals, the Mamluks of Egypt. Had it not been for this, Napoleon s plan for following up military conquest by revolutionising the economy and institutions of Egypt might well have created a modern European-style state, controlled by France, at the axis of all the trade routes between Europe, India and the East. Plans to this end involved nearly 500 civilians, the cream of whom were about 150 men drawn from the Institut de France. Once in Egypt their first task was to make a thorough survey of every aspect of the country to assist the planning of its future shape, and this was extended to include Antiquities. The work was co-ordinated by L Institut de l Egypte (later replaced by the Commission des Sciences et Arts d'Egypte), founded in the appropriated house of Hassan Kachef (illustrated in the plates to the Etat Moderne), with Gaspar Monge as president.As early as October 1798 Fourier was entrusted with the task of uniting the reports of the various disciplines with a view to publication. Following the capitulation of the army to Egypt under General Menou (a convert to Islam), the savants returned to France where a commission was set up for the editing and supervision of the work. The first volumes were published by Napoleon s government, and it is a measure of how important this work was considered to be that publication continued following the Bourbon restoration. . never before or since has a study of such scope and thoroughness been accomplished.

Hardcover. Etat : Very Good. "7 volumes (22 x 14 inches). Folio. 418 hand-colored lithographs, many HEIGHTENED WITH GOLD LEAF AND OTHER IRIDESCENT MINERAL PAINTS, overpainted with transparent oil and varnish colors, after John Gould, H.C. Richter and W. Hart, with a 7th volume including the original blue printed paper wrappers. Contemporary half brown morocco (extremities a little scuffed). Provenance: with the bookplates of Frederick Ducane Godman (1834-1919), the celebrated ornithologist, on the front paste-down of each volume. "bring to light the hidden treasures of the great primeval forests of the New World" (Gould "Preface") First editions of the main title and of the Supplement. Gould maintained an obsessive fascination for Hummingbirds: "These wonderful works of creation my thoughts are often directed to them in the day, and my night dreams have not infrequently carried me to their native forests in the distant country of America" (Gould "Preface"). During his lifetime he identified more than 400 species of Hummingbird, Linneaus, by comparison, having only identified 22. Gould famously exhibited his personal collection (from which the plates in this monograph are drawn) at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in the Zoological Gardens in Regents Park, and one of his revolving displays of these tiny birds with their "jewel-like glittering hues" (Gould "Preface") can be seen currently at the Yale Center for British Art as part of their exhibition "Endless Forms": Charles Darwin and the Natural Sciences. As a result Gould's "masterpiece [is] an incomparable catalogue and compendium of beauties" ("Fine Bird Books"). From the distinguished library of Frederick Ducane Godman, author of "A Monograph of the Petrels" (1907), and "Natural History of the Azores" (1870). Initially employed as a taxidermist [he was known as the 'bird-stuffer'] by the Zoological Society, Gould's fascination with birds from the east began in the "late 1820s [when] a collection of birds from the Himalayan mountains arrived at the Society's museum and Gould conceived the idea of publishing a volume of imperial folio sized hand-coloured lithographs of the eighty species, with figures of a hundred birds (A Century of Birds Hitherto Unfigured from the Himalaya Mountains, 1830-32). Gould's friend and mentor N. A. Vigors supplied the text. Elizabeth Gould made the drawings and transferred them to the large lithographic stones. Having failed to find a publisher, Gould undertook to publish the work himself; it appeared in twenty monthly parts, four plates to a part, and was completed ahead of schedule. "With this volume Gould initiated a format of publishing that he was to continue for the next fifty years, although for future works he was to write his own text. Eventually fifty imperial folio volumes were published on the birds of the world, except Africa, and on the mammals of Australia-he always had a number of works in progress at the same time. Several smaller volumes, the majority not illustrated, were published, and he also presented more than 300 scientific papers. "His hand-coloured lithographic plates, more than 3300 in total, are called 'Gould plates'. Although he did not paint the final illustrations, this description is largely correct: he was the collector (especially in Australia) or purchaser of the specimens, the taxonomist, the publisher, the agent, and the distributor of the parts or volumes. He never claimed he was the artist for these plates, but repeatedly wrote of the 'rough sketches' he made from which, with reference to the specimens, his artists painted the finished drawings. The design and natural arrangement of the birds on the plates was due to the genius of John Gould, and a Gould plate has a distinctive beauty and quality. His wife was his first artist. She was followed by Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, William Matthew Hart, and Joseph Wolf" (Gordon C. Sauer for DNB). Anker 177, 182; Diane Donaldson "Picturing Animals in Britain 1750-1850", pp. 59-60; "Fi.

Hardcover. Etat : Very Good. Paris: Levrault Freres (later Levrault, Schoell & Co.), 1801-1805 (illustrateur). 1st Edition. "2 volumes, folio (22 3/4 x 15 3/4 in.; 57.8 x 40 cm). 145 fine stipple-engraved plates after Jacques Barraband, printed in colors and finished by hand by Langlois under the direction of Bouquet, dedication leaf to B.G.E.L. Lacépède in vol. 1, half-titles and single-page indices in each volume; light, scattered or marginal foxing affecting about 15 plates, occasional light foxing to text margins, minor creases to plates 18 and 77, neat repair to marginal tear on pl. 116, WITHAL AN EXCEPTIONALLY BRIGHT AND CLEAN COPY. Contemporary half crimson straight-grain morocco, smooth spines lettered and ruled gilt; board edges a bit worn, top of lower covers of each volume lightly sunned. FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FRENCH ORNITHOLOGICAL BOOKS, FROM THE CELEBRATED LIBRARY OF BERIAH BOTFIELD. Levaillant, one of France's greatest ornithologists, was born the son of the French consul in Paramarimbo, Dutch Guiana. Having studied natural history at Metz, he became one of the first of a new breed of naturalists who observed and recorded their subjects in their natural habitat. In 1781-1784, he collected specimens in South Africa on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. Jacques Barraband (1767/68-1809) worked for the Gobelin factory and was recognized as the best ornithological artist of his time owing to his attention to remarkably accurate detail and use of naturalistically textured color. Langlois' skillful engravings of Barraband's original watercolor and gouache drawings reproduce their delicate modulations of tone and color as well as their fine lines and flawless draftsmanship. "After he had made himself Emperor, it was part of Napoleon's deliberate policy to initiate a series of magnificent publications that would vie with those undertaken on the orders of Louis XIV. These were sent as presented to crowned heads, men of science, and learned bodies, in evidence of the splendours of the Empire The works of Levaillant owe their sumptuous character to this impetus. His Histoire naturelle des perroquets is, unwittingly, a part of the glories of Napoleonic France" (Fine Bird Books, p. 15). REFERENCES: Anker 303; Ayer/Zimmer p. 392; Fine Bird Books (1990), p. 118; Nissen IVB 558; Ronsil 1780 PROVENANCE: Highly Important Books from Beriah Botfield's Library (Christie's London, 30 March 1994, lot 77)".

4to. 4 vols. (10), 20 pp. (10), 40 pp. (14), 33 pp. (12), 19 pp. With 2 watercoloured and 4 coloured engraved coats of arms, 1 coloured engraved dedication plate, 183 (instead of 186) plates of birds, 15 of which in watercolour and 168 on splendidly illuminated engraved plates, partly heightened in gold, silver and copper, with lavish watercolour borders. Contemporary glazed red morocco binding with double gilt engraved spine labels, splendid floral spine and cover gilding. Vols. 4-6 with coloured armorial supralibros to upper covers. Calico endpapers, all edges gilt. Unique copy of one of the rarest works of zoological book illustration, from the library of the banker, art collector, and patron Moritz von Fries (1777-1826), for whom the set was in all likelihood specially produced. Around 1800, Fries was considered without doubt the richest man in the Habsburg monarchy. The splendid engraved plates were elaborately illuminated, each with rich botanical and architectural decoration extending even beyond the engraved matter. In addition, the copy at hand was enhanced by 15 original watercolours (all in vols. 5 and 6), whereas the regular copies include merely prints. The only verifiable complete copies, in the Austrian National Library (ÖNB) and the Bavarian State Library (BSB), show less splendid decoration, with only three watercolours each in the respective volumes and no watercolour borders whatsoever. The Fideicommissum collection in the ÖNB holds 5 illuminated volumes of Spalowsky's work, with volume 5 containing the highest traceable number of watercolours among all copies available for comparison. As the final volume is lacking in the Fideicommissum collection, the eight watercolours and splendid framings of vol. 6 of Fries's copy are probably unique. - Since 1932, the only copies traceable at auction were those at Ketterer, 2017 (vols. 1-4) and Christie's, 2012 (vols. 1-3). The volumes sold in 2017, along with the ones at the ÖNB and BSB, belong to the normal edition without the watercolour embellishment and the artist's colouring, while the copy sold at Christie's would seem to have been at least comparable to Fries's in respect to its décor. However, neither the Christie's copy nor any of the others discussed above include any original watercolours, which are to be found in that of Fries's alone. - The splendid avian illustrations surrounded by landscape motifs and architectural decoration are labelled in red ink, identifying the animals' German and scientific names. The labelling is sometimes overpainted, suggesting that the decision to extend the watercolour décor was made at a later stage. The engravings were produced by five artists, among which were Benedikt Piringer and Sámuel Czetter. In vol. 5 of the Fideicommissum copy, Piringer signed one of the watercolours, proving that he provided templates for the engravers and contributed to the colouring. - Spalowsky's "Naturgeschichte der Vögel" was planned as part of a large natural history publication. In a subscription announcement from 1791 the surgeon and army physician advertised the plates showing species "previously not illustrated by any author" and promises the vivid, realistic colour "of the originals". A large proportion of the species depicted, including four falcons, originate from Asia, mostly from India and China, and are not to be found in Brisson's or Buffon's works. The present copy constitutes a special edition of the most expensive version of decoration, priced at 36 guilders - 15 times the cost of the plainest version. The eventual failure of this ambitious project was undoubtedly due not alone to the author's untimely death in 1797, although Spalowsky did succeed in wooing several prominent dedicatees for his elaborate publication. The "Naturgeschichte der Vögel" is dedicated to Alois I Joseph von Liechtenstein and Caroline von Manderscheid-Blankenheim (vol. 1), Beethoven's patron Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz and Caroline Theresa von Schwarzenberg (vol. 4), Wenzel count Paar and Maria Antonia Princess Liechtenstein (vol. 5), as well as Anton Theodor von Colloredo-Waldsee-Mels, archbishop of Olmütz (vol. 6). - Provenance: 1) Maurice count Fries, with his library stamps, "EX BIBL(iotheca) MAVR(icii) COM(es) FRIES" to title-page (verso), now obscured by monogrammed red seals ("MF"); 2) Dorotheum sale, 12 Feb. 1932, lot 44, 75 ATS (description mounted to lower flyleaf of vol. 6); 3) Austrian private collection; 4) Dorotheum sale, 18 Dec. 2019, lot 222, not mentioning the Fries provenance or the 15 watercolours. - Marginal flaw to armorial supralibros of vol. 5. Lacks 3 plates (plate 2 in vol. 1, plates 6 and 39 in vol. 5). Index and plate 42 in vol. 4 have small flaws. Plate 31 in vol. 1, plate 43 in vol. 4, and plate 44, as well as one armorial engraving in vol. 5 slightly smudged. - Nissen, IVB 888. Schlenker 345.1. Wurzbach XXXVI.56. Sitwell/Buchanan p. 143. Not in Nissen, ZBI. Not in Anker.

Hardcover. Etat : Very Good. 1st Edition. 5 volumes. Folio (21 4/8 x 14 4/8 inches). 5-page list of Subscribers. 367 EXCEPTIONALLY FINE hand-colored lithographs after John Gould, Josef Wolf, and H.C. Richter. FINE AND ATTRACTIVE contemporary full maroon morocco, by Riviere for Henry Sotheran, each cover with wide decorative gilt border of floral roll-tools, the Devonshire family cipher and coronet stamped in gilt at each corner, the spines in seven compartments with six raised bands, gilt-lettered in two, the others decorated with a profusion of small gilt tools, inner gilt dentelles, all edges gilt (spines very slightly faded, with discreet repairs at foot of joints, versos of endleaves a little spotted). Provenance: from the library of William Cavendish, seventh duke of Devonshire (1808 1891, Duke from 1858). "The most popular of all his works is always likely to be Birds of Great Britain" ("Fine Bird Books") First edition. The Duke of Devonshire was a keen supporter and patron of Gould, subscribing to all of the artist's works in turn and taking two sets of The Birds of Great Britain, the other of which remains at Chatsworth. The duke "never appeared in society in London, reserving his public life for more serious and uplifting pursuits, notably the support of higher education. He was the first chancellor of the University of London, from 1836 to 1856, and an important influence on its early development. He was chancellor of Cambridge University from 1862 until his death; he was chairman of the royal commission on scientific instruction and the advancement of science, which sat from 1871 to 1874; and as an earnest of his commitment to the cause, he provided for the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge in 1874. He was a considerable benefactor of Owens College, Manchester, and of the Yorkshire College of Science, Leeds; when these colleges became part of the new federal Victoria University in 1880 he was its first chancellor" (F. M. L. Thompson for DNB). Gould found more subscribers for this than any other of his other monographs, and boasted that he employed the services of "almost all the colourers in London". "Many of the public are quite unaware how the colouring of these large plates is accomplished; and not a few believe that they are produced by some mechanical process or by chromo-lithography. This, however, is not the case; every sky with its varied tints and every feather of each bird were coloured by hand; and when it is considered that nearly two hundred and eighty thousand illustrations in the present work have been so treated, it will most likely cause some astonishment to those who give the subject a thought" (Preface). Often referred to as the most sumptuous and costly of all British bird books, the plates depict scenes with more sophisticated subjects than Gould's previous works, including nests, chicks and eggs: "I also felt that there was an opportunity of greatly enriching the work by giving figures of the young of many of the species of various genera - a thing hitherto almost entirely neglected by author's, and I feel assured that this infantile age of birdlife will be of much interest for science." (Gould "Preface" to "Introduction", 1873). Initially employed as a taxidermist [he was known as the 'bird-stuffer'] by the Zoological Society, Gould's fascination with birds began in the "late 1820s [when] a collection of birds from the Himalayan mountains arrived at the Society's museum and Gould conceived the idea of publishing a volume of imperial folio sized hand-coloured lithographs of the eighty species, with figures of a hundred birds (A Century of Birds Hitherto Unfigured from the Himalaya Mountains, 1830-32). Gould's friend and mentor N. A. Vigors supplied the text. Elizabeth Gould made the drawings and transferred them to the large lithographic stones. Having failed to find a publisher, Gould undertook to publish the work himself; it appeared in twenty monthly parts, four plates to a part, and was completed ahead of schedule. "With this volu.

Hardcover. Etat : Fine. This historically significant manuscript is the 'First Zoological Inventory of Polynesia.' The work based on the research of Charles-Gaëtan Noury is entitled Frà gate la Sirene, commendà e par Mr. Noury Capitaine de Frà gate. Histoire naturelle. Voyage dans l'Oceanie, annà es 1847, 1848 & 1849. Iles de la Socià tà , Tahiti & Marquises, Nouka hiva and was unknown until 2017. The work was completed in France after 1850.The manuscript is in 6 volumes, one volume of text and five volumes with 458 illustrations (including 444 watercolors, 10 pen drawings, and 4 pencil drawings). Each illustration is mounted on card and often has French handwritten descriptors with local names. The five volumes with illustrations are bound in green half morocco with gold details and monogram of C.N. to the front boards. The text volume is bound in half-cloth. Also included in the lot is the manuscript published on behalf of the Belgian Academy of Sciences by Michel Jangou after the discovery of this one of a kind work of Noury's. Jangou's publication is entitled Voyage en Polynà sie (1847-1850): Le bestiaire oublià du capitaine Noury and was published in Brüssel in 2017 (available on Amazon as well).All of the illustrations and text were based on the scientific findings of Charles-Gaëtan Noury. It encompassed the entire animal kingdom of Polynesia creating the 'First Zoological Inventory of Polynesia.' Michel Jangou commented in his publication of the manuscript that "Noury produced a pioneering work, the first zoological inventory of Polynesia! He compiled it discreetly, with the invaluable help of a talented painter who remains anonymous. Since then, Noury 's manuscript and the watercolors which illustrate it have remained ignored by everything: it took more than a century and a half for the captain's work, still intact, to find the light and finally be revealed to us." (p. 39)Noury divided the animals into individual classes. The artist depicted the animals with brilliant colors and a mastery of detail. The manuscript depicted several previously unknown species. Watercolor number 183 features a detailed autographed commentary from Noury himself. Noury's text was mainly dedicated to his zoological findings with a smaller section on plants. The individual classes and sections are introduced by a summary table, which follows Milne Edwards zoological classification system of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, ringed animals, insects, myriapods, arachnids, crustaceans, molluscs, and zoophytes. His descriptions were often enriched with island anecdotes.Charles-Gaëtan Noury (1809-1869) was a French naval officer and naturalist. He boarded the Sirà ne in Brest, France in 1846 as the deputy to Commander Lavaud. Lavaud had been appointed governor of the French settlements in Oceania. While Lavaud served as governor, Noury had command of the Sirà ne and stationed in Papeete (Tahiti). He dedicated himself to scientific research there and with the help of painters produced this remarkable astonishing manuscript.Noury had one work published in Nantes in 1861 entitled Album Polynà sien de M. C. Noury, Capitaine de Vaisseau which showed images of tattoos and artifacts of South Sea curiosities. This work with 15 plates is currently on the market at 25,000 EUR.This one of a kind manuscript from Noury offered here remained undiscovered for over 160 years. It features 458 illustrations and hand-written scientific text that make it a truly astonishing work for any collection.Additional photos available upon request. --- The work is in very good to excellent condition overall. The bindings are slightly rubbed. There can be some faint foxing to title or illustrations. There may be a few minor imperfections to be expected with age. Please review the image carefully for condition and contact us with any questions. --- Paper Size Image or Sheet Size ~ 12 3/4" by 8 1/4"; Mounting Card Size ~ 16 3/8" by 11 3/8" Image or Sheet Size ~ 12 3/4" by 8 1/4"; Mo. Signed by Author.

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.

First edition. 21 vols bound in 20 (9 volumes quarto text, 1 volume elephant folio text [bound with Antiquities vol. I], 11 elephant folio plate volumes), the complete set of 894 plates of which 40 are wholly or partly printed in colours and or hand-coloured, and 2 printed in bistre, many double-page, and or folding, plate DD in Etat moderne II with fore-margin sometime renewed, scattered light foxing, contemporary calf gilt with marbled paper panels to covers (moiré cloth panels to natural history vols.), text volumes rebacked to style, spine gilt lettered and ruled. Antiquities, 5 vols: (I) Engraved frontispiece, map, 99 plates numbered 1-97 (plates 79 and 87 each in two states) + 1 unnumbered plate; Bound with folio text; (II). 92 plates numbered 1-92; (III). 69 plates numbered 1-69 ; (IV). 72 plates numbered 1-72 + 2 plates lettered e & f ; (V). 89 plates numbered 1-89. Etat Moderne, 2 vols. (I). Engraved map, 83 plates numbered 1-83; (II). 22 plates numbered 84-105 + 31 plates numbered I-XXXI + 11 plates lettered A-K + 9 plates lettered AA-II + 4 plates lettered KK-NN + 9 plates lettered a-i + 1 plate lettered k (JJ and j not used). Histoire Naturelle, 2 vols bound in 3: (I). 62 plates; (II). 105 plates; (II bis). 77 plates. Amongst the artists who contributed to this section are Barraband, Bessa, Redoute, and Turpin. Cartes Georaphique et topographique, engraved title & 52 engraved plates. First edition of one of the most ambitious scientific, historical, artistic and publishing projects - a complete set with fine English provenance. The first comprehensive description of ancient and modern Egypt, the outstanding achievement of the savants who accompanied Napoleon's expedition to Egypt (1798-1801). The work is the greatest of a number of outstanding scientific publications by the French government detailing the results of exploration, unequalled by any other nation during the same period. The only flaw in Napoleon's preparations for the invasion of Egypt was a miscalculation when it came to Turkey's reaction to France's unsolicited 'help' in dealing with its mostly unruly vassals, the Mamluks of Egypt. Had it not been for this, Napoleon's plan for following up military conquest by revolutionising the economy and institutions of Egypt might well have created a modern European-style state, controlled by France, at the axis of all the trade routes between Europe, India and the East. Plans to this end involved nearly 500 civilians, the cream of whom were about 150 men drawn from the Institut de France. Once in Egypt their first task was to make a thorough survey of every aspect of the country to assist the planning of its future shape, and this was extended to include Antiquities. The work was co-ordinated by L'Institut de l'Egypte (later replaced by the Commission des Sciences et Arts d'Egypte), founded in the appropriated house of Hassan Kachef (illustrated in the plates to the Etat Moderne), with Gaspar Monge as president. As early as October 1798 Fourier was entrusted with the task of uniting the reports of the various disciplines with a view to publication. Following the capitulation of the army to Egypt under General Menou (a convert to Islam), the savants returned to France where a commission was set up for the editing and supervision of the work. The first volumes were published by Napoleon's government, and it is a measure of how important this work was considered to be that publication continued following the Bourbon restoration. '. never before or since has a study of such scope and thoroughness been accomplished on the basis of field work carried out in so short a space of time and under such inadequate and harrowing circumstances' (J.C. Herold, Bonaparte in Egypt, 1963). Antiquities describes not only the ruins, but also the objects excavated, including the Rosetta Stone, here described for the first time. The quality of the plates was much enhanced by the use of an engraving machine invented by Conte, which is itself illustrated among the plates. Etat Moderne describes the architecture of Egypt subsequent to the Arab invasion in the seventh century, particularly Cairo, as well as sections on Art et Métiers, Costumes et Portraits, Vases, Meubles et Instruments, and Inscriptions, Monnaies et Médailles. Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland was the second son of Hugh, the second Duke, a distinguished naval officer and a man of science and learning, he rose to the rank of Admiral, and was First Lord of the Admiralty in 1852. He became Duke of Northumberland in 1847, and a Knight of the Garter in 1852. Atabey, 343; Blackmer, 476; Brunet II, 616-617; Nebenzahl, Maps of the Holy Land, 60; Nissen, BBI, 2234; Nissen, ZBI, 4608; Wilbour pp178-185.

Hardcover. Etat : Near Fine. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. Folio (22 3/8" x 15 1/4"). Text in English and French. Folding engraved map with original hand-colour. 220 hand-colored engraved plates after Catesby. Modern red calf; modern red cloth cases. Third edition. In 1712, the English-born artist and naturalist Mark Catesby embarked on a series of expeditions to the southern colonies of British North America. Catesby was enthralled by the wildlife of the New World, and he spent years traveling by foot through parts of present-day Virginia, Georgia, the Carolinas and the Bahamas. Over the course of his journeys, he encountered and documented uncountable varieties of animal and plant life that were entirely unknown to Europeans. His drawings and written observations were the raw material for an unprecedented project: a scientific account of previously uninvestigated wildlife, with illustrations taken from life. Catesby initially encountered some difficulty in interesting sponsors in his monumental Natural History. Determined nonetheless to persevere in his project, and also wishing to maintain control over the translation of his drawings into print, the artist learned to engrave copper plates and set out to complete the Natural History himself. He produced all but two of the plates, and painted the impressions himself to further insure their fidelity to his models. The result was the most sweeping, complete and unique natural history study ever done. Despite Catesby's initial difficulties in finding subscribers, his striking finished product received widespread acclaim. Cromwell Mortimer, Secretary of the Royal Society, declared the publication to be "the most magnificent work I know since the Art of printing has been discovered." Catesby's charming, distinctive style sets his work apart from all artists who later followed his example. The overt simplicity of his compositions is deceiving; the artist arranged each of his images with great care, often combining seemingly incongruous elements to create the most artful scene possible. A sense of Catesby's enthusiasm for his subjects is palpable in his engravings. Very few artists were so personally involved in the completion of a published work, and Catesby's images convey what the artist must have experienced in America: the colors and varieties of the exotic species of birds, fish, animals, insects and plants of the New World. Widely considered the great achievement of 18th-century art and science, Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands has lost none of its power to delight in the 250 years since its publication. This remarkable study of American plants and animals is a monument to Catesby's intelligence, scientific devotion and love of nature. The Natural History has provided an important model for ornithologists and scientists, including John James Audubon, who followed in Catesby's footsteps a century later. Catalogued by Kate Hunter.

Hardcover. Etat : Very Good. 1st Edition. 25 ORIGINAL PARTS, folio (22 1/8 x 15 1/4 in.; 56.2 x 38.7 cm). 367 exceptionally fine handcolored lithographic plates, most heightened with gum-arabic, by Gould, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Hart, most lithographed by Richter and Hart, printed by Walter or Walter and Cohn, 2 wood-engraved illustrations, part XXV with title-pages for volumes 1-5, 5-page list of subscribers, dedication leaf, preface, Introduction, list of plates for all 5 volumes, directions to the binder tipped in before front free endpaper; some minor spotting to the last plate of part VI and the first plate of parts XIII and XXV, very occasional isolated spots to other plates, occasional light mostly marginal spotting or foxing to text leaves, faint pigment offset from about 9 plates to accompanying text, bottom margin of Thrush plate in part IX bumped. Original pale green paper boards with wood-engraved vignette of a family of Grouse, dark green cloth spines; boards dust-soiled, some with age discoloration, ink splash on front cover of Part II, a few spines with splits or tears, spine cap of part XXV torn, corners and a few board edges bumped, a hinge or two slightly split. FIRST EDITION, AN EXTREMELY FINE, UNCUT COPY IN ORIGINAL PARTS. The parts were priced at three guineas each and contained 15 plates, except for part XXIV with 14 plates, and part XXV with the final 8 plates. The larger final part also contained the title-pages to each volume (I-V), dedication leaf, list of subscribers, preface, introduction, list of plates for each volume, and the binder's slip. As the work was so clearly intended for binding in five volumes, copies in original parts are scarce: in the past 50 years, only seven such sets have appeared at auction. "The most popular of all his works is always likely to be Birds of Great Britain" (Fine Bird Books), for which Gould found more subscribers than any of his other monographs, compelling him to increase the print run. In the preface Gould notes that some 280,000 plates had to be handcolored-given 367 plates per copy, about 750 copies were therefore produced. Often referred to as the most sumptuous and costly of all British bird books, the plates depict scenes with more sophisticated subjects than Gould's previous works by including nests, chicks, and eggs. In the preface Gould wrote that he "felt that there was an opportunity of greatly enriching the work by giving figures of the young of many of the species of various genera-a thing hitherto almost entirely neglected by authors; and I feel assured that this infantile age of birdlife will be of much interest for science." The text is longer than in any of his other works, and many of the illustrations were prepared from freshly killed specimens. Wolf, who drew 57 of the plates, had accompanied Gould on an ornithological tour of Scandinavia in 1856, and was responsible for persuading Gould and Richter to adopt a livelier treatment of the illustrations. Catalogued by E. R. Muller REFERENCES: Ayer/Zimmer p.261; Fine Bird Books p.78; McGill/Wood, p. 365; Nissen IVB 372; Sauer 23; Tree, A Ruling Passion, pp. 194-204 PROVENANCE: WITH THE ORIGINAL RECEIPT FOR THE PURCHASE OF PARTS 9 TO 16 OF THIS SET TO ORIGINAL SUBSCRIBER WILLIAM PETERS, FRAS, FRGS of Ashfold, Crawley, Sussex, for 25 pounds and 4 shillings, SIGNED BY JOHN GOULD ON 1 MARCH 1870; Robert Calvert (engraved armorial bookplate on the front pastedown of each part and his sale, Christie's London, 6 June 2007, lot 21) (L4F15 I-16 I). Signed by Author(s).

Hardcover. Etat : Near fine. Second. THE FRANK S. STREETER COPY OF "ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MAPS PUBLISHED IN AMERICA BEFORE INDEPENDENCE". Second edition of the text, with the second state of the map. Philadelphia: Printed by B. Franklin, and D. Hall. Quarto (9 3/16" x 6 15/16", 234mm x 176mm). [Full collation available.] With a folding engraved map. Bound in modern crushed red morocco with a blind fillet border. On the spine, five raised bands. Title and author gilt to the second panel, date gilt to the tail. Presented in a blue cloth four-fold box. A little soiling to the title-page. Trimmed at the lower edge, just touching the catch-word on p. 17. A few graphite marginalia. Some little tears at the folds, and a stub-tear to the map, which is otherwise a rich impression. Bookplate of Frank S. Streeter to the front paste-down. Lewis Evans (ca. 1700-1756) was a Welsh geographer, who emigrated to North America in the 1730's, spending a considerable portion of his life working in Philadelphia and traveling throughout the Middle Colonies (viz. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware). He had trained as a surveyor and became friends with Benjamin Franklin in 1736 after buying a book from him; it was Franklin who encouraged him to pursue his scientific and geographic interests and explore the East coast. Accompanied by Conrad Weiser, who had extensive connections with Native Americans in the region, and the botanist John Bartram, Evans collected material for a detailed map of New York, New Jersey and Delaware, which, later modified to include Pennsylvania, was published in 1749 as A Map of Pensilvania, New Jersey, New-York, and the Three Delaware Counties. Evans's best-known map, however, is A General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America, which spanned from the Falls of the Ohio to Narragansett Bay and from Virginia to Montreal. Though issued before the publication of the present item, it is often, as here, included with it. Evans in his analysis points out the advantages to the English colonies of the Ohio territory and vehemently urges a general study of that region and the ways by which it could be reached so that the French might be more easily driven out. He divides the eastern United States geomorphically for the first time, delineating the New England Upland, the Coastal Plain, the Fall Line, the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, the Folded Appalachians, the Allegheny Front, and the Allegheny Plateau. The present second edition is, essentially, a page-for-page reprint of the first, published earlier the same year. Schwartz and Ehrenberg anoint the map as above; along with Mitchell's map of the same year (which, unlike Franklin's Philadelphia production, was published in London), it paints the most authoritative picture of the impending theater of war. The present second state of the map is distinguished by the additional legend "The Lakes Cataraqui" above Lake Ontario. From the collection of Frank Sherwin Streeter (1918-2006), purchased at his sale ("Important navigation, Pacific voyages, cartography, science") at Christie's New York 16 April 2007, lot 185 ($168,000). Streeter was the son of the legendary Americana collector Thomas Streeter, whose sale catalogue has become a reference work in its own right. Some of his collection he inherited from his father (those he did not he would often buy back), but other volumes he added over many decades until his death. Church 1003; Evans 7411; Howes E 226; Pritchard & Taliaferro 34; Sabin 23175; Schwartz & Ehrenberg, p. 165; Streeter II:819 (first edn.).

Hardcover. Etat : Fine. This remarkable, originally hand-colored atlas is Willem Janszoon and Joan Blaeu's Toonel des Aerdrycks ofte Nieuwe atlas, dat is Beschryving van alle Landen. the Dutch edition of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The work was published in Amsterdam by Joan Blaeu between 1642 and 1655 (1661).The work is in six volumes with 409 mostly double-page maps (on 408 plates). The text and index leaves are complete and in Dutch. The work in publisher's binding, contemporary gilt vellum with gilt edges. The first four bindings are uniform and a bit smaller with volumes 5 and 6 slightly larger including the paper size. The Dutch edition of Blaeuâ s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is the most complicated of the editions of this atlas. The text was reset at least four times, and the general title page shows many different dates from 1642 to 1661. However, the resetting of the text and the change of the date on the title page were not at the same time. (Van der Krogt)The work is bound in six volumes with the following areas depicted in the volumes as below:Volume I : the World, Arctic, Northern and Eastern Europe, Germany and The Low Countries, 120 mapsVolume II : France, Italy, Spain & Africa, Asia, America 92 mapsVolume III : Italy, Greece and the Appendix to the British Isles, 66 mapsVolume IV : England, 59 maps on 58 pl.Volume V : Scotland and Ireland, 55 mapsVolume VI : China, 17 maps.Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638), Jan's father, founded the famous Blaeu cartographic firm in Amsterdam. He studied astronomy and science under Tycho Brahe. He established a globe and instrument making business in 1599 which soon expanded into cartography publishing. It became one of the most important publishing firms in the world that was also later run by his sons Cornelis and Jan. Their maps are noted for their fine engraving process, coloring, and design and are often referred to as "the highest expression of Dutch cartographical art." He also served as the official cartagropher for the Dutch East India Company in 1630.Jan Blaeu (1596-1673) began the publication of the Nuevo Atlas in 1659 and would eventually change the title to Atlas Mayor. It was to be his most famous atlas, and was meant to include up to 13 volumes, but only 10 volumes were ever completed as his printing house was destroyed by fire. He was also noted for the publication of the atlas Theatrum orbis Terrarum. --- The atlas is in good to very good condition overall. There is some wear or soiling to the bindings with some old restorations. There is some dampstaining, handling or foxing to be expected with age and atas of this size. There are a few minor old restorations. There may be a few minor imperfections to be expected with age. Please review the image carefully for condition and contact us with any questions. --- Paper Size Paper Size ~ 20 1/4" by 13 1/2" (Varies a bit with binding size, as done by publisher); First Four Volumes ~ 20 1/2" by 13 3/8"; Volume 5 ~ 22 1/2" by 14 5/8"; Volume 6 ~ 21 1/4" by 14 3/4" Paper Size ~ 20 1/4" by 13 1/2" (Varies a bit with binding size, as done by publisher); First Four Volumes ~ 20 1/2" by 13 3/8"; Volume 5 ~ 22 1/2" by 14 5/8"; Volume 6 ~ 21 1/4" by 14 3/4".

Hardcover. Etat : Very good. First. First Venetian edition. Venice: Iacobus Pentius de Leucho, 20 March 1511 (colophon). Folio in 6s (16 5/16" x 11", 414mm x 281mm). [Full collation available.] With 28 woodcut double-page maps printed in red and black (all recto-verso with the exception of the final world map, which is the inner forme of its own leaf). Bound in (perhaps later?) vellum over boards (the boards recovered in later vellum). On the spine, author and title (PTHOLEM/ TABULÆ/ GEOGRA) gilt to sheep. All edges of the text-block red. Boards recovered in later vellum, coming up at the corners and along the lower edge of the back board. Damp-stain to the lower gutter and to the upper edge, mostly mild but moderate in places. Some shaving to the maps: at the fore-edge of the first world map, the "quinta Europae tabula" and the "tertia Africae;" the lower scale of "prima Europae" and "sexta Europae;" to the upper figural surrounds of "secunda Africae," "prima Asiae," secunda Asiae," "nona Asiae" and "decima Asiae;" and to the upper, lower and fore-edges of the final world map. A little worming to the gutter of the world map, with some splits along the upper fold. Ink marginalia to B1r-B2r, B8v, C3v, C4r, I1r, I8v (a circular diagram without marking to a blank page) and to the maps of France ("tertia Europae tabula") and Italy ("sexta Europae tabula;" pasted correction slips swapping "Obononia" (Bologna) and "mutina" (Modena)). Bookseller's ticket of "Librairie Fl. Tulkens Bruxelles" to the front paste-down. Claudius Ptolemaeus (usually anglicized to Ptolemy) was a second-century philosopher living in Roman Alexandria in Egypt. In the Greek tradition (Ptolemy wrote in Greek, which was the administrative language of the Roman Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean), philosophy -- the love of wisdom -- bridged what we now divide into the humanities and the sciences; he was a mathematician, natural scientist and geographer-astronomer. No manuscripts of the Geographical Guidance survive from before the XIIIc, but some XIIIc examples survive with maps that bear some relation to those Ptolemy himself drew. Thus, with the exception of some excavated carved maps, Ptolemy is the source for ancient cartography as well as its culmination. In the XVc, the Geographia was the core of ancient knowledge of the world, extending from the Canary Islands in the West to China in the East (though not quite to the Pacific), Scandinavia in the North and beyond the Horn of Africa to the South. It was crucial to explorers; Columbus expected to find the East Indies because of Ptolemy's calculations and assertions about longitude. As the world expanded beyond its ancient bounds, discoveries were integrated into the Ptolemaic maps, distinct with their trapezoidal frames. The work is anomalous in a city that was otherwise the cradle of Renaissance printing; Shirley calls it an "isolated example of Venetian cartographic enterprise" (sub 31). That said, La Serenissima has left her mark on the volume; it is the first atlas to print maps in red-and-black, the first to contain a cordiform projection and the first to depict Japan. It is the second edition of Ptolemy to contain a cartographic depiction of the New World. An early reader(s?) has left marks of reading through the volume. There are many glosses of ancient place names, especially of the British Isles, France and Italy. There is a long marginalium at the foot of C4r correcting the placement of various Celtic tribes (and reflected in the corresponding maps of France and Italy) by cross-reference with the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae of Robert Estienne first published 1531. The hand is perhaps XVIIc, judging by the letter-forms; it is perhaps reductive to suggest he lived in Southeast France or Northwest Italy, but there is nothing to supersede that suggestion. Adams P 2218; Alden-Landis 511/8; Nordenskiöld 2.204; Phillips, Atlases 358; Shirley 31 & 32, Stevens, Ptolemy 43.

5 volumes plus supplement. List of subscribers, list of plates in each volume; title-page of volume 1 with gutter repair and strengthening. Folio (21 1/2 x 14 1/2 in.; 54.6 x 36.8 cm.). 418 hand-colored lithographs after John Gould, H.C. Richter and W. Hart. Full contemporary green morocco, elaborate gilt border of acanthus and Greek key roll tools and 1 roll of shells in blind. Spine in 6 compartments, richily gilt with gilt dentelles, raised bands with 2 letterering pieces, yellow-coated endpapers, edges gilt; expertly rebacked. PROVENANCE: Red-ink stamp "Property of William and Flora Richardson Library" stamped on the front and rear paste-downs of each volume. First edition. "THE TROCHILIDAE OF GOULD IS HIS MASTERPIECE, AND MUST EVER REMAIN A FEAST OF BEAUTY AND A SOURCE OF WONDER.AN INCOMPARABLE CATALOGUE AND COMPENDIUM OF BEAUTIES" (Fine Bird Books). Gould maintained an obsessive fascination for Hummingbirds: "These wonderful works of creation my thoughts are often directed to them in the day, and my night dreams have not infrequently carried me to their native forests in the distant country of America" (Gould "Preface"). During his lifetime he identified more than 400 species of Hummingbird, Linneaus, by comparison, having only identified 22. Gould famously exhibited his personal collection (from which the plates in this monograph are drawn) at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in the Zoological Gardens in Regents Park, and one of his revolving displays of these tiny birds with their "jewel-like glittering hues" (Gould "Preface") can be seen currently at the Yale Center for British Art as part of their exhibition "Endless Forms": Charles Darwin and the Natural Sciences. As a result Gould's "masterpiece [is] an incomparable catalogue and compendium of beauties" ("Fine Bird Books"). Initially employed as a taxidermist [he was known as the 'bird-stuffer'] by the Zoological Society, Gould's fascination with birds from the east began in the "late 1820s [when] a collection of birds from the Himalayan mountains arrived at the Society's museum and Gould conceived the idea of publishing a volume of imperial folio sized hand-coloured lithographs of the eighty species, with figures of a hundred birds (A Century of Birds Hitherto Unfigured from the Himalaya Mountains, 1830-32). Gould's friend and mentor N. A. Vigors supplied the text. Elizabeth Gould made the drawings and transferred them to the large lithographic stones. Having failed to find a publisher, Gould undertook to publish the work himself; it appeared in twenty monthly parts, four plates to a part, and was completed ahead of schedule. "With this volume Gould initiated a format of publishing that he was to continue for the next fifty years, although for future works he was to write his own text. Eventually fifty imperial folio volumes were published on the birds of the world, except Africa, and on the mammals of Australia-he always had a number of works in progress at the same time. Several smaller volumes, the majority not illustrated, were published, and he also presented more than 300 scientific papers. "His hand-coloured lithographic plates, more than 3300 in total, are called 'Gould plates'. Although he did not paint the final illustrations, this description is largely correct: he was the collector (especially in Australia) or purchaser of the specimens, the taxonomist, the publisher, the agent, and the distributor of the parts or volumes. He never claimed he was the artist for these plates, but repeatedly wrote of the 'rough sketches' he made from which, with reference to the specimens, his artists painted the finished drawings. The design and natural arrangement of the birds on the plates was due to the genius of John Gould, and a Gould plate has a distinctive beauty and quality. His wife was his first artist. She was followed by Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, William Matthew Hart, and Joseph Wolf" (Gordon C. Sauer for DNB). Anker 177, 182; Diane Donaldson "Pict.

First editions of all fourteen James Bond books, each in their original [first state] dustwrapper, without repair or restoration. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the limited edition, numbered and signed by Ian Fleming. The Man with the Golden Gun, is signed by and from the collection of the dustwrapper artist Richard Chopping. Together with six of the earliest continuation novels: Kingsley Amis' The James Bond Dossier and Colonel Sun (as Robert Markham); John Gardner's Licence Renewed; For Special Services (signed); Icebreaker (signed); Nobody Lives For Ever. A stunning set, a full catalogue description for each book is available on request. Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.

Leiden, Siebold, 1832-1852. 7 parts bound in 6 volumes. Folio (390 x 293mm). Circa 1350 text pages with 365 fine lithographed plates, including numerous maps, views (many folding or double-page, 1 botanical plate hand-coloured). Contemporary half red morocco, spines in 6 compartments gilt, marbled sides, upper edges gilt. A very fine copy of the first and only edition of this magnificent publication depicting for the first time on a large scale the ethnography and geography of Japan. The work is of the greatest rarity as probably no more than 100 copies were published. The present copy is the only complete copy to come on the market since decades. The work was privately published by von Siebold and due to financial problems the work was sold to Quaritch, who added title pages and a 3 page collation of the work. Our copy, includes these pages printed by Quaritch and has all the pages and plates called for in the collation. A few copies were issued on large paper, our copy is the normal issue.Not included in the total count of 365 plates, but all present, are 19 appendix plates of Japanese text (1 plate in Abtheilung 5 and 18 numbered plates in Abtheilung 7), 25 numbered plates of Japanese text Wa Nen Kei "Annales Japonici" as well as 2 unnumbered plates belonging to this section and the lithographed title (Abtheilung 3). All these plates are listed in the Quaritch collation in the section plates 'Stein-tafeln' and for this reason there seems to be some confusion about the total number of plates.The work remained unfinished and 7 parts were published dealing with the following subjects: Mathematical and physical geography of Japan, hydrographical and geological maps, views and tables; People and state, a description of the inhabitants of Japan, their manners and customs, government and administration, with illustrations; Contributions to the history of Japan: mythology, history, archaeology, numismatics, with chronological maps, illustrations and tables; Arts and sciences, in particular the Japanese language and literature, with excerpts from original texts and illustrations; Religion: description of the deities, deified rulers, temples and monasteries, priests, monks and nuns, religious monuments, utensils and dress in Shintoism and Buddhism; Agriculture, industry and commerce with descriptions of related natural products and illustrations of commercial crops, animals, machines and implements; Neighbouring countries of Japan: Ezo with the Southern Kurile Islands, Korea and the Ryukyu Islands.Von Siebold was the most important European scientist who almost single handedly put Japanese studies on the European academic map. In 1823 he was posted to Japan as a surgeon to the Dutch factory on Deshima. He played a significant role in introducing Japan to the West and in his introduction of Western science to Japan. For the illustrations of the present work use was made of Siebold's large ethnographical collection, some 4700 items, which was opened to the public in 1831 and bought by the Dutch government in 1837.The Dutch were the only western nation to trade with Japan from 1639 until the opening of Japan by Perry. Von Siebold (1796-1866) was a German surgeon in service of the Dutch East India Company. 'Despite the restrictions imposed on the freedom of movement of the inhabitants, Siebold found life on the settlement quite comfortable. Since the late eighteenth century, when it had become easier to import and read books in Dutch, groups of scholars had started to engage themselves in the study of Western medicine. Dutch became the medium for these 'Dutch Studies', Rangaku. The main activities of these scholars, 'Rangakusha', were centered around the capital Edo, but all over the country was a growing interest in Western sciences during Siebold's time on Deshima. Soon, Siebold started teaching on a regular basis, mainly on the subjects of the natural sciences and medicine. In return, his students taught him Japanese and a little written Chinese. In addition, his students helped him with his botanical research. Siebold had secured the help of the Japanese painter Kawahara Keiga (1786-1865?) to make visual records of landscapes, buildings and other things which were physically impossible to collect" (K. Vos, 'Assignment Japan, Von Siebold pioneer and collector', pp. 10-13). During Siebold's stay in Edo he met the court astronomer Takahashi Sakuzaemon, the famous geographer Mogami Tokunai and Mamiya Rinzo, who provided Siebold with important information, maps etc. Siebold was expelled from Japan in the autumn of 1829 because maps were considered by the authorities as secret. Siebold had managed already to ship his collection to Batavia. However some of his Japanese friends were imprisoned.Cordier 477-48; Assignment Japan, Von Siebold pioneer and collector pp. 22-25; Nipponalia 1135; Alt-Japan Katalog 1396.

Small folio (185 x 290 mm). Persian manuscript on polished paper. 221 ff. (lacking 7 ff.). 12 lines of black nasta'liq, written in two columns, set in blue, green, red, and gilt borders. With 5 full-page miniatures, marginal floral and Safavid style bestiary decorations on the first pages and middle miniature pages, a central blue rosette (shamse) in the middle written with gilt. Bound in full brown morocco with a fore-edge flap, covers and flap decorated with a central mandorla and spandrels in gilt, the interior of both covers and flap decorated with filigree in blue, red, and gilt. Very early, stunningly illuminated manuscript of Jami's Diwan, one of the earliest documented works of the renowned calligrapher Muhammad ibn Mulla Mir (Al-Husaini Al-Ustadi). - This splendid manuscript, written in an elegant nasta'liq script, includes five ornate miniatures by two different artists: four may have been added by later hands, but the earliest illustration, along with its beautiful marginal decorations, appears to be in the hand of the scribe Ibn Mulla Mir himself. The colophon states the finishing date in numerals and script as Rajab 998 (May/June 1590) and bears the distinctive signature of the calligrapher. - As one of the most celebrated scholars and poets of 15th century Persian literature, Jami is a canonical name that influenced mystics and poets of the Islamic world for centuries. He grew up in Jam, a small village in Herat, and started to use his pen-name Jami as a tribute to his hometown. In his youth, his studies at Nizamiyyah University included philosophy, mathematics, the natural sciences, literature, and the Arabic language. Well-educated and well-travelled, Jami taught in Samarkand, held an important position at the Timurid court, and befriended and mentored the Turkish poet Alishir Nevai, considered the greatest representative of Chagatai literature. Celebrated during his lifetime in the Islamic world; Jami received many invitations from various sultans who desired to have him at their courts, but he rejected them. Thirty-six of his works, ranging from Islamic studies to poetry, have survived to the present day. This manuscript is his well-celebrated Diwan, mostly composed of ghazals, qasides, and quatrains. - This beautifully crafted manuscript is thought to be one of the earliest works of the calligrapher, Muhammad ibn Mulla Mir. Although his works listed in Mehdi Bayani's catalogue range from 1010 to 1038 AH (1602-28 CE), his earliest known manuscript, a copy of Jami's "Salaman and Absal", dates back to 989 (1581) and is held in the collections of National Library of Russia (PNS 145). Another well-known manuscript copied by this scribe is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MS 13.228.16). He is known usually to sign his manuscripts as "Mohammad ibn Mulla Mir Al-Husayni Al-Ustadi", indicating his lineage and probably the fact that his father was also a scribe, but Bayani also records an example in which he signed his name as he did in the present manuscript. - Small paper tears, dampstaining, occasional colour fading in the margins, paper rubbed on some pages, occasional stains, ink smudges and browning. A single marginal paper repair, not affecting the text. 2 poems written in the margins of two pages by a different hand. 7 leaves appear to be missing. Binding rubbed, spine and flap professionally repaired. - UK private collection. - Mahdi Bayani, "Ahwal va-Attar-e Khoshnevisan", vol. 3 (Tehran, 1343/1984), pp. 840f. Olga Vasileva & Olga Yastrebova, "'Abd al-Rahman Jami, Poet, Scholar and Mystic" (St Petersburg, National Library of Russia, 2017), p. 87.

Single volume, second volume only of the text, decorated manuscript in Arabic, complete in alternating quires of 8 and 12 leaves with a bifolium at the end to complete the text, 162 leaves (plus one contemporary and 3 later endleaves), 218 by 118 mm; single column of 11-12 lines in sepia naskh hand of the author al-Sharif al-Radi himself, title on recto of first leaf, colophon at end of text in same hand, on distinctively Persian dark-cream paper, most leaves with mould markings (of 7-8 laid reed lines per centimetre, and with no chain lines apparent), final free endpaper with numerous ownership inscriptions (pre-fourteenth century), occasional marginal commentary (also pre-fourteenth century), some early damp-staining and mottling to leaves to entirety of volume affecting upper and outer corners, a few repairs to preliminary leaves including a closed tear to first leaf, strip of modern paper pasted along length of pastedown (probably from modern description once pasted there and subsequently removed), later endpapers and doublures inserted; fourteenth-century leather boards, stamped in blind and ruled with geometric patterns, skilfully rebacked, resewn and edges repaired, very presentable and attractive condition. islam24 07 Al-Sharif al-Radi (970-1015 AD) was a celebrated poet and scholar from Baghdad, whose was a direct descendent of Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in law of Prophet Muhammad. His father Abu Ahmad Hussayn was the Naqib of Iraq (a government position with responsibilities for the descendants of Prophet Muhammad) and chief Hajjaj for the region (overseeing pilgrimage to Ka'aba). He is buried in the Holy Shrine of Imam al-Husayn in Karbala. Al-Radi was a literary figure with extensive Islamic fiqh and tafsir expertise, who established the renowned Dar al'ilm (school of knowledge) in Baghdad during his lifetime. This school became a leading educational centre during his lifetime, and nurtured an entire generation of influential scholars, most notably al-Shaikh al-Tusi (995-1067 AD). As an author, Al-Radi is best known for his collection of commentaries on Imam Ali, entitled Nahj al-Balagha (peak of eloquence), which is commonly considered a masterpiece of Shi'ite literature and has remained popular with Shi'ite Muslims for a millennium. The present manuscript contains a lesser known and much rarer work entitled Takhlis al-Bayan fi Majazat al-Qur'an (roughly translating to 'summary of statements in the Qur'an'). It is a literary text focusing on the figurative and metaphorical meanings of phrases in the Qur'an, and is the first independent work of its kind to examine Qur'anic text through a literary perspective. The details given in the colophon of this codex are solidly supported by both a C14 test (by CIRAM -Science for Art Cultural Heritage of Martillac, France and New York, their report reference 0415-OA-98R-4 carried out in 2015, with them extracting the sample of paper from the book themselves: strip of paper from blank lower edge of fol. 10), as well as a report on the antiquity of the paper stock by Helen Loveday. The C14 analysis establishes a date of 986-1048 AD with a probability of 79.1%, and the paper stock is characteristically Persian and of the twelfth century or before (the extreme rarity of comparative eleventh-century manuscripts from this region forcing the dating parameters to be set as 'twelfth-century or before').

Broadsheets (21 6/8 x 15 2/8 inches). 99 double-page maps, most with outlines hand-colored, most by Delisle, 8 by Pierre Mortier, some with margins extended to establish uniform sizing for binding (map of France partly split along fold). 18th-century English diced russia gilt, the covers decorated in gilt with broad borders of flower roll tools, a central lozenge of floral tools, spine in nine compartments, morocco lettering piece in one reading "De L'Isles Works and Other Mapps", the others decorated with gilt flower tools (a few repairs at spine ends and corners). Provenance: Bookplate of Frank Sherwin Streeter (1918-2006) (Collection of Important Navigation, Pacific Voyages, Cartography and Science). ".towering landmarks along the path of Western cartographic development" (Wheat) A FINE COMPOSITE ATLAS, probably assembled to order circa 1725 for an English client. The maps include "Mappemonde a l'usage du Roy" (1720); four hemispheric World maps (1714 and 1724); and "Plan de la Villes et Fauxbourgs de Paris" (1716). The eight maps relating to the Americas comprise: "Carte d'Amerique" (1722); "Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France" (1703); "Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi" (1718); "Carte du Mexique et de la Floride" (1703, Schwartz & Ehrenberg pl. 82); "Carte des Antilles Françoises et des Isles Voisines" (1717); "Carte de l'Isle de Saint Domingue" (1725); "Carte de la Terre Ferme du Perou, du Bresil et du Pays des Amazones" (1703); "Carte du Paraguay du Chile" (1703). Also included is the "Orbis veteribus moti tabula nova" (1714). Including one of the most important maps of the American West, the "Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi" based on the maps of La Salle, Spanish expeditions and maps from Le Moyne. The first map to correct the position of the mouth of the Mississippi River and the Mississippi Valley: "with their corrected course of the Mississippi and these many items farther west, [his maps] are towering landmarks along the path of Western cartographic development" (Wheat "Mapping the Transmississippi West" 99 and pp.58-59). From the distinguished library of Frank S. Streeter. Cohen, "Mapping the West" pp.48-50. Catalogued by Kate Hunter.